April upon us

Spring has come to these parts, not a moment too soon. The daffodils are blooming, the grass is turning green, and much to my great joy - the children are spending a good part of their free time outside. ahhhhhhhhh.
As the weather warms up, our desire to do school work is quickly deteriorating. Who wants to add and subtract when you can dig? Not us. We have 26 days of school left, and as we gleefully cross off each day we hear that sweet song of freedom calling a little bit louder.
Easter has come and gone. My attempt at Easter last year was remarkably pitiful, so I had to redeem myself this year. Last week we had an egg hunt with our friend Emily (well several egg hunts as the children wanted to keep hiding the eggs from each other). On Saturday we painted hard boiled eggs with my famous pickle juice paint, and on Sunday we had a family Easter basket. In the past I've stayed away from the whole secular side of Easter - the baskets with too much candy and lame-o toys and such, but one (large) basket full of goodies for the whole family to share was just about right.
Our church is creating a new brochure this year, so the brochure committee asked me to submit a handful of photos to the cause. Well after I submitted "a few" they were thrilled and gave me a list of specific topics they wanted to illustrate better. So on Easter Sunday (which was possibly the worst time to take photos because the church was PACKED) I showed up, camera in hand, and managed to get a handful of decent shots. So those have all been submitted and I'm excited to hear back about what they thought.

Late March

Just like that late March is upon us. The snow is long gone, and the flowers are starting to poke their heads out of the soil. Well, not the flowers, but little green sprouts that will eventually become flowers, I'm good with that. The weather has warmed up enough for the kids to dust off their bicycles and cruise up to the park. The hope of spring is upon us.
Jory's mom has been visiting us this week. Her school was on spring break this last week, so she flew out for a visit. We enjoyed a constant stream of hot chocolate, extra hugs and snuggles, sewing projects, and having an extra brain to help explain school work. But alas, the airplane has wisked her back to her homeland, and we are getting back to normal. Without the hot chocolate.
We have started the fund raising process for our little Russian friend to come. We are continuing the photography fund raiser that we started last fall, and we sent out a few support letters to loved ones. We still have a lot of money to raise, but we are excited to see what God can do. And we are really really excited for July to come so we can finally meet the little one that we've been praying for.
School is on the downward spiral. We have about 34 days left. We are looking forward to having freedom. As the mama, I'm especially looking forward to the month of freedom that we have before everyone else is released - then our days will become twice as crazy stressful as before.

sigh

I had a nice little post all ready to go, but blogger just ate it. I have no idea what happened, but it completely disappeared. Lovely.
Let me try to remember all the exciting news I had to share........
My birthday, of course. 31 years old this week. Very fun and exciting. Jory and the kids threw me a surprise party in the morning before we parted company for the day. Then after work Jory and I had a dinner date and did a little shopping. All in all, a very good day.
The weather in these parts is starting to warm up. The snow is beginning to recede. Not enough to see our flower beds, but I"m sure they're still out there. Waiting patiently for their time in the sun.
Last week we had a flu bug visit us. Alex, Annie and I all had a 24 hour stomach flu. The good news is that we were all sick during the same 24 hours, so it wasn't a drawn out affair, but those 24 hours were tough on all of us. Even Jory and Louisa who somehow managed to avoid the bug.
So this week Annie decided to start calling her sister Lulu. Which is all cute and sweet when they're getting along. But it makes me laugh when Annie is mad at her and screams "Lulu!" in her best meanie voice. Too funny.
And a classic Alex quote from this week. "Mom! I'm 7 and 8/12 years old!" So random.

2 weeks (and a little more) in review

The last few weeks have been rather enjoyable in these parts. We've had a few significant snow falls. Nothing like the rest of the nation has gotten, but enough to enjoy. We've had a blast building a snow mountain, make a few snow angels, and taking a wintery hike through, among other things. We have enjoyed the snow that's fallen this month, but we're a little itchy for it to go away so our daffodils can start poking through. Spring is so close we can almost taste it.
We've also enjoyed watching the Olympics these last few weeks. I'm not so sure the kids care that much about the sports, but they are intrigued by all the different countries that are represented and all of the flags that represent those countries. As I write this they are making a collection of flags to represent different countries for their stuffed animals to wave. Currently we have an American flag, an Olympic flag, and flags for both Finland and Scotland.
Alex had his Pinewood Derby for Cub Scouts over the weekend. His car was an ambulance. He placed 4th (out of 13). Which was good enough for us. My dad (the genius) designed the car so that it would do well, but not so well that Alex would win, and we'd be forced to endure another drawn out competition at regionals.

Welcome February

A new month is here, and with it new adventures. I can breathe a bit easier knowing that next month it will start being warm enough to be outside. At this point it's just a matter of running the clock down. Plus we have Jory's birthday and Valentines day to look forward to. Having two excuses to get rid of the children is never a bad thing.
Over the weekend my good friend from Jr. High/High School, Karen, came for a visit. She was in town from Chicago to go to a wedding shower for our friend Jill. We had a lovely time at the shower, and then hung out here with my crazy family. It was good to catch up and compare notes on life. Good stuff.
School is going well, in the "we're sick of school and ready for SUMMER" kind of way. I'm tempted to say "well if your done with 2nd grade math, I guess you don't have to do math anymore right?" but no. If I followed that logic we'd be left with only Language Arts, as we've completed all the Science, Social Studies, and Spelling (and soon to be Math) required by the state. As much as I love Reading and Writing I can't bring myself to fill an entire morning with it. So grudgingly we press on, opening doors that lead to more knowledge. But yes, we're counting down until the last day of school. 68 more days.

500

I just noticed that this is my 500th post. Which sounds like a lot, but our blog is pushing towards it's 5th anniversary. So I guess that's about right.
Much has happened in the last two weeks around here. The girls have had their 6th birthday. We had a week long celebration. It started with a get together with our friend Cathy a few days before the big day. Then on their proper day we had a little party with the families we baby sit for, and a dinner / party with my parents and my brother.
So we've hit the cabin fever stage of winter. With at least 6 weeks left until it's warm enough to be outside, we're trying to think of ways to power through. We're filling our days with friends, activities, and school, attempting to distract ourselves from the restlessness that is stirring all five of us. We're daydreaming about our next family road trip, and all the things we can plant in our garden. We're trying to convince ourselves that we're perfectly happy celebrating each day that the Lord has made - even if we don't happen to like the weather that day.
We've dreamed up some rather interesting projects for ourselves these last few days. Annie has been the little shutterbug these last few days. She's had a blast dreaming up little scenarios for her toys, then arranging them just right and snapping away. I've taken to leaving my old Kodak Easy Share camera out for her to grab whenever inspiration hits. Of course the other kids always join in on her little studio set-up and offer their imput (welcomed or not).
There have been a multitude of other random activities, including snowman sculpting (at the kitchen table), food scuptures (with marshmallows, fruit snacks, and toothpicks), aquarium making (tupperware containers full of craft marbles and foamie fish), and rescuing marbles that were trapped in large chunks of ice. Good stuff.

So far...

Well with nearly 2 weeks under our belt, I'm happy to report that (so far) 2010 has been a relatively good year.
We had a quiet New Years Eve here at home. We celebrated with a family movie night - a veggie tale if I do believe. I think Jory was the only one awake at midnight - and that's only because he was having a phone conversation with his brother.
As far as resolutions go, the girls both resolved to turn six, and Alex wanted to play GI Joes with his dad. All very attainable. My resolution was to set reasonable expectations for myself - in hopes of avoiding the icky mommy-on-the-verge-of-a-melt-down. Sadly that Mommy reared her ugly head a few times last year, it wasn't pretty. Lesson learned.
This past weekend saw some rather fun outings. Alex attended a kids building workshop at Lowe's with his cub scout troup. He built a nice little wooden bank that we have plans for "cusomizing". We were fortunate to bring home two extra kits so the girls could build their own banks.
We also attended a pool party with some friends from church. Our children's minister rented a local YMCA as a thank you for all the ministry volunteers. The kids had a ball playing with friends in the pool, Jory shot some hoops, and I had time to socialize with the people I volunteer with (but never have a chance to talk to).
So now our year is up and running. We're excited to see all the adventures and blessings this year holds for us.

Post Christmas post.

While the snowflakes are flying outside, I thought I’d take a quick moment to jot down my thoughts on this phase of our lives.
Our Christmas was a great one. It’s hard to predict what gifts the children liked best. The early favorites for both girls have been the Strawberry Shortcake dolls, art supplies, GI Joes, and new outfits. While Alex has mostly focused on his legos, and the model car that he’s building with Jory. I’ve had fun playing (and winning, to my surprise) all the new board games that have come into the house. Poor Annabel has turned out to be a sore looser, and generally refuses to play anything unless she’s clearly ahead.
Anyway. We’ve had a nice relaxing week here. We haven’t had any little friends to baby-sit, so it’s been just us. A whole week with “only” three kids has been restful, but at the same time they make me want to pull my hair out. Why is it that group dynamics change so dramatically when you add and subtract little bodies? How can I be at my wits end with three children, but be perfectly happy with six? Who knows.
School in general is going well. We ended up doing 4 days worth this week. We don’t really take time off for holidays like they do in public school. The kids get bored and restless when we don’t do something organized in the mornings, so it’s just better for my own sanity if we all sit down and focus on something together. The other day I sat down and calculated our projected end of school date (for when we’ve completed the 180 days required by the state) to be April 27. Which is alarmingly early. As of right now I’m contemplating extending the year by 10 school days to try to push the end back until mid-May. We’ll see.

Really?

Really?
Has it really been almost a month? Oy. No real excuse, just a busy time of year for us.
So our fun fall is over, and now the Christmas season has descended upon us. The house is decorated, the cookies are being baked as I write this, and the gifts, well…. 2 out of 3 isn’t bad right?
Right now we are dividing our attention between school, evening activities, and babysitting. School is pretty good. In the last month we’ve finished several Boy Scout belt loops and pins, including art, astronomy, geography, and citizenship. There have been several great requirements that Alex and I have really enjoyed.
Babysitting is going well. Most days I actually enjoying being the mama to six kids, granted I only have my extras for about 18 hours a week. We’ve established a fairly stable routine, and have managed to include our new friends in some of the lessons that we do for school. Emily is in kindergarten, so she is right on track with where my girls are academically. Sweet Abby is 2 1/2, and it’s fun to revisit some of the old lessons with her that my kids enjoyed when they were her age. Corinne, well we just try to keep the beads out of her mouth.

Stuff

Well we're done with the photo project for now, and done with the "oh my gosh, I have all these fabulous pics of our friends, and none of US" photos. Finished all that up about 2 weeks ago, and miss it terribly. Sadly the weather in these parts has been fabulous. 50's and 60's for the last 2 weeks, which is pretty rare. If I'd known the weather was going to stay so nice I would have planned more photo sessions. But you know as soon as I scheduled something it would have snowed. Oh well. There will be plenty of time in the spring, I know.
So now we're directing our energy into school. After looking through the academic belt loops for Alex's boy scouting I decided there was no reason why we couldn't use the requirements as school. For everyone. This week we worked on Art (an obvious place for our family to start). We've had a blast making paper, sculpting, painting, and photographing (oh did we have fun with that one...) Louisa wasn't so crazy about the paper making, but Annie was quite the photographer.
Other academic areas are floating along nicely. We're rapidly approaching the end of second grade course work for most sugject areas so I"m sort of scrambling to figure out how to stall the boy in a way that is still challenging but isn't moving on to 3rd grade level work. (Hence the belt loops that count as school). Gotta let those public school kids catch up a little.
Random Alex quote from this morning: At a friends house this morning the state of Tennessee comes up in conversation, and Alex pipes up "Tennessee was a confederate state, California was a union state".
Ok, nerd.
Speaking of friends, last week a friend from church asked if I could be a "fill in" babysitter while she looked for a new one. So we've been over twice so far, and our kids are having so much fun that I may end up being the new one. Just in the mornings 2-3 days a week. We'll see. Emily is the same age as my girls, and Corinne is coming up on her first birthday here pretty soon. Their cousin Abby may or may not be there, and sometimes we bring baby Elizabeth. So there are as many as 7 kids running around, with Alex as the only boy. But he doesn't seen to mind.

catching up

This month has definitely been about photos in this house. Photos photos and more photos. And sadly this is just the tip of the ice burg. I have 6 sessions planned for this fall, (4 of which are finished) and upwards of 20 more families that have expressed an interest in the project who will have to wait until spring, when the trees are pretty again. The good news is that I'm having a blast, and I'm getting plenty of good feedback from friends and family members.
School is going well. We have about 11 weeks under our belt, and we're still going strong. The girls reading and writing skills are coming along nicely. Louisa perhaps more than her sister, but that's ok. Alex is really loving Social Studies this fall. Geography, History, and Economics are all calling his name. He is forever making maps and trying to sell them to us.
Our fall programs are all up and running. At church we're doing story time/play group, Tuesday night Kidz on a Mission, and peer mentoring for Alex. This fall we've added a church musical "Don't Rock the Ark" for all 3 kids, and Alex has started Boy Scouts. We're also trying to organize a social group at church for families who home school.

Taken by storm

This photography project has certainly taken on a life of it's own. When I originally designed the project I was hoping for 5 families this fall, and (if I was lucky) maybe 2-3 more in the spring. As of this post I have 23 families that would like to participate. Which means if I start in April and do one family a week, I'll be "in business" until mid July - which is the cut off for the project. The good news is that I should have my food/clothing expenses covered and most of our little one's traveling costs (which looks to be about $1,000). I am praying that God will provide all of our traveling costs, and a little extra so we can help others who would like to participate in the project.
It's so cool to watch God's plan for the project unfold. Clearly He dreams bigger than I do.

The Foro Project - photography fund raiser details

Photos “foro” good cause…

Next summer my family and I would like to host a Russian orphan through the Journeys of Joy program with Friends of Russian Orphans and McCord Road Christian Church. In order to provide for our sweet little one, we would like to raise between $200 - $300. Here’s how you can help…

Disclaimer:
I am an amateur photographer who loves taking portraits of family and friends. I have no professional experience.

The scoop:
For a $20 donation I would love to have a mini photo shoot session with you and your loved ones. I can guarantee 30-35 images on CD with no rights restriction (make as many copies of the photos as you want). The images are high resolution, and suitable for enlarging / framing.

Details:
· Indoor and outdoor shoots are available (I personally love outdoors!)
· You’ll walk away with some family portraits, couple shots, sibling shots, individuals of each family member, candid shots, and whatever specific requests you can think of.
· After you schedule your session you’ll receive a short questionnaire asking about your personal preferences. These questions will help me know more about your family and what kinds of pictures you want. This way I can tailor the shoot to your needs and you’ll get more of what you want…
· 5-6 family members please (that includes pets, depending on location!)
If you’d like to have a group larger than 6, that’d be great! But I might ask for a larger donation


Scheduling:
· I would like to do one session a week, six sessions this fall. Please don’t schedule later than mid November. I would really like to have all these shoots done before Christmas, so that you can send your new photos out in your Christmas letters if you so choose. Depending on the popularity of the project, I might offer up a few spring sessions (starting in April).
· Shoots can be during the week between the hours of 4:00 – 9:00 pm, or on weekends (Sundays after 1:00 pm). I have flexible hours, so if those times don’t work for you, email me and we’ll find a time that works for everyone.

Contact me to set up your shoot today – spaces are filling up quickly!
To schedule your shoot, leave a message on this here blog, or if you know my email / phone number, give me a holler...

In the event that we do not end up hosting an orphan, %100 of the proceeds will be directly donated to FORO.

Thank you and God bless!

Long past due

Don't remind me. So it's October around here. While I'm not that thrilled about loosing my garden to the frost, I'm so excited about all things October. Pumpkins, crock pot dinners, baked goods from the oven, sweat shirts, and even foot ball (which by the way, I find mind numbingly boring after about 30 seconds, but it's the concept).
So what's new around here? Alex lost another tooth. He's up to three now. I think that kid wins the "slowest tooth looser" award. Not that I'm complaining. I'll just enjoy that sweet mouth full of baby teeth as long as I possibly can.
I picked up some early readers for the girls the other day. They aren't really reading yet, but they are itching to get started. So I figured it wouldn't hurt to get a few really really simple books and let them practice their high frequency words. It's a step above pretending right?
I scored some princess costumes at the second hand store the other night. The girls promised that they'd put them away so they stay nice for Halloween. Yeah right. They put them on the next day and haven't taken them off since.
And just because I haven't posted any pics in forever, here are some from last month.

All 3 at Toledo Botanical Gardens

Louisa the super model. I thought Annie was my photogenic child.....

The latest...

In the spring I had this fabulous idea to plant extra vegetables so we could donate our leftovers to the local food bank. The idea being that the children (who love gardening) could learn about how to grow and care for vegetables, and in the end we could learn about doing our part to care for the community. (And we could give away all those yucky vegetables that we had no intention of eating). Well our peas and carrots both failed, but our onions took off. We ended up with about 70 onions the size of my fist. Some of which found their way into our bellies, but the majority were boxed up and delivered to the food bank. Where they were well received. So with a sigh of relief and gratitude we're pleased to be done with our veggies for the year. But also excited to think about what we can grow in the future.
School is going well. Alex is currently fascinated by the Titanic. So he's reading everything he can get his hands on, and having a blast drawing and building enormous boats. The girls continue to amaze me with their fine motor abilities. After Alex who had no desire to write or draw when he entered kindergarten, it's kind of a shock to see how well they can express themselves with a pencil. Boy are they itching to read. I think they're twice as excited about the concept of reading as Alex was.
It's starting to feel fall-ish around here. All our friends are back in school (which means not so many play dates - darn). The fall programming has started at church - which means new classrooms and new teachers. The kids had their annual Labor Day campout with Grandma and Grandpa. I'm working on getting Alex enrolled in the boy scouts.

Good times

I'm trying something new here, so I have my fingers crossed that this will actually work. Hold on tight, this could be interesting...
So anyway. We had a fun little get away over the weekend. Jory and I randomly decided to take the kids to Columbus for a little adventure. He and I both had some shopping we wanted to do. The Iron Pony for him, and Easton for me. We stopped in for visits with the Smith family, and the Alexander family. Top it off with swimming in the hotel pool and it was a great little adventure. Now we are home with an arm load of new goodies to play with, and a rather messy house to clean up.
We have now hit the 3 weeks completed mark in our schooling. We have finally found our rhythm. Most days we are completely done, or almost done with our seat work when baby Elizabeth arrives. So then we are ready to read with her, which the baby clearly enjoys.
So we finally found someone to clean up the mulch piles on the corner of the property. It took him nearly three 8 hour work days to complete the job. But he's done. Yahoo!! Now about that house........

Huh?

So I'm not sure why blogger won't allow me to cut and paste from Word. I have a very long post to share with you and am not about to retype it all here. Is anyone else having this problem?

Pigboy

Playing with the pig nose Jory brought home from work.

The End of Summer

Today is our last day of summer vacation. We are all set to start up school again tomorrow morning. The girls and I are rather excited, but Alex is not quite thrilled. This year all three children will embark on the crazy adventure known as home schooling. Kindergarten for the girls, and 2nd grade for Alex. While August 10 strikes me as kind of early to be starting, I have to remember that we’ve been on vacation for 3 solid months, which is more than public school kids get. So it’s time. It’s time for directed learning and structure. It’s time for all you crazy people to go back to school and leave us alone so we can focus. Ahem.
So this week was slightly calmer than the past few weeks have been. We spent a few days at the lake with our friends, the Smiths. Kevin, Jonna and I were pals in college, so it was good to sit back and reminisce about the olden days. Their daughters Natalie and Tessa had a blast chasing my kids around, and soaking up the fun in the lake.
So between our little get together, tying up loose ends for school next week, oh and getting ready for sweet baby Elizabeth, (who will be joining us for school on Monday). It was a productive week. Calmer, less frantic, and definitely productive. The way they should be.

The Speed of light

What a whirlwind these last 2 weeks have been. It’s been a fabulous swirl of birthday, friends, VBS, and a wedding. I’ll do my best to touch on the highlights.
Alex turned seven on July 15. We celebrated his birthday with a trip to the lake and a joint birthday party with his little buddy Hope. Later that week our dear friend Cathy came in from Illinois. Together we had a fun outing to Sauder’s Village where we all enjoyed learning about local history. The girls particularly enjoyed the Potter’s Studio, Alex liked the train ride. Of course.
The week of July 20-24th was our first week of Vacation Bible School. I played the part of photographer. Wandering in and out of classes hoping for the “perfect” shot for the slide show. This year our church was given the opportunity to host 13 Russian orphans. The children range in age from 5 to 12ish. They are staying with various members of the congregation, and attending VBS. As the photographer I got the chance to interact with all the children. As a group they are beautiful and sweet, funny and shy. As a crazy mom with a huge heart you can imagine I fell in love. With each one. I want to keep them all in my house. My tiny house with 16 kids. Don’t think it didn’t cross my mind. But no, they will probably all go back to the orphanage. Filled with ice cream and memories.
So this weekend we went to my brother-in-law’s wedding in southern Missouri. Actually they live in Missouri, but got married 2 hours away Arkansas. Whatever. The wedding was beautiful and we got tons of pics. We also spent a lot of time hanging out with Grandma and the cousins. A lot of time swimming in the hotel pool, exploring local parks and of course, sweating. Southern Missouri in July is hot y’all.
So that brings us mostly up to date. You’ll have to forgive me for the lack of pictures. I only have about 600 from the last 2 weeks to sort through…….

New Dress

Here’s a quick pic I snapped of Louisa in the dress I made for her. She’s soaring like a bird (in case that wasn’t obvious). Everyone knows that a new dress makes you feel like your flying.

Week in Review

So this last week was a slightly calmer week in our house. After the two weeks of Safety Town in the morning and running around in the afternoon, I needed a week to chill out. A week to focus on projects that I had started at the beginning of the summer, and were put on the shelf. We spent a good deal of time with my mom and grandmother. I finished the dress I started for Louisa, and started a similar one for Miss Annie. I finished reshaping and mulching my garden on the north side of the property (which was quite a project in itself). Taught a scrapbooking class, and just caught up on life in general.

So it’s been a while since I shared some pics of what we’re up to. Here are a few from the last week. We were at my mom’s house and the kids were playing in the sprinkler with Tyler, who lives next door to my mom. Well the boys were playing in the sprinkler and the girls were watching from a safe distance. So here is a very soaked (and chilly) little boy.

Exhale

So the last two weeks have been a little frantic trying to get the girls to safety town each morning and accomplish everything else that needed to happen. I’m happy to say that we survived and are happy to be moving a little slower this week. I’m a much happier mama when I don’t have to be out the door by 8:45 in the morning. We have nearly 2 weeks to fully recover before the maelstrom known as VBS hits.
In addition to safety town we had several fun activities. I spent two days helping a friend move. I made most of a dress for sweet Louisa, which may or may not be finished before the end of summer. And the girls had their safety town graduation. To name a few…
We had a fabulous weekend. Friday Jory had the day off, so we spent the day chilling out, not accomplishing a whole lot. Saturday we went to the lake to visit with my parents, my sister and her husband, and my grandmother and uncle. The kids played in the water (even though it was barely 70 degrees). Then we shot off some fire works and played with some sparklers. This year Alex got a kick out of making things go “boom” and all three loved the sparklers.
We ended up buying Annie a new bicycle this weekend. Jory has been wanting to ride bikes to the park that’s about a mile from here. Well poor Annie was riding on a bike that was just too little for her, and was having a hard time keeping up on it. So it was time. Now Jory and Alex are having a hard time keeping up with her. Before too much longer Louisa will be ready to join them. Of course she will also need a “big girl” bike when that time comes.
So this week we have some projects to wrap up (hopefully). I’m trying to finish reshaping my front garden, making it easier to mow around. I think I have one more day with that before I can call it “done for now”. I also want to have my school stuff finished before we start in August. Usually I just sort of plan as I go and pick up new curriculum as I run out. But this year we are planning on having a sweet baby Elizabeth staying with us while her mommy is at work. So I want to have as much done ahead of time as I possibly can. And of course this week will probably see a few play dates and library programs and bike trips to the park.
Oh yes, and we have raspberries.

Pause button

I am so not ready for June to be almost over. Seriously? I can’t believe we are past the half way point in our summer vacation. In a few short weeks we’ll be gearing up for school to start again. But I’d rather not think about that quite yet.
So what’s new around here. Week one of safety town has come and gone. Both girls love their class. So far the highlight has been riding the go-carts through a little village set up on the playground. They are back for week 2 of Safety town this week. I’m excited to hear more of their stories.
Other than that we’ve been running around like crazy people. In addition to safety town our last week has seen several play dates, a puppet show at the library, with a couple other miscellaneous activities thrown in there for good measure.
I’m busy working on school stuff. The idea of having three in school next year is slightly intimidating, so I’m trying to work ahead. I have a pretty good outline of what will be taught when for both grades. There are a few lessons that still need to be improved upon, so I’m working on my plans for those.
In other news we are starting to enjoy the harvest from our garden. I don’t know if I mentioned it or not, but some critter came along and gobbled up most of our pea plants before they were mature. We had about 6 that survived and are now putting out peas. Which no one will eat but me. But man, are they tasty. Our black raspberries are starting to ripen. Here in the next week I imagine we’ll have some to snack on while we work in the yard.

Hang time

Summer is flying by at a furious pace. Of course we are attempting to squeeze out every drop of fun there is to be had. This week the girls are at Safety Town. The same program that Alex attended two years ago. Sweet Annie has been slightly anxious for the last few days about the start of class, because she didn’t know our home phone number. We’ve repeatedly assured her there isn’t an entrance exam, she won’t be the only one who doesn’t know her digits. Besides, she has a partner in crime, if she gets stuck her sister (who is also her classmate) can just pass her a note under the desk.
Speaking of Annie, she’s become quite the little bike rider this last week. My kids aren’t really bike riders for some reason. Alex and Louisa don’t show much interest in riding or learning to ride without training wheels. Annie on the other hand has happily left the training wheels behind and has moved on to performing little stunts as she rides.
So what else is new? Ah yes, the toads are back. Every year our yard gets inundated with little toads that are about one inch long when fully grown. This is the first year that my children have paid much attention to these little guys. So now every time we go out to play in the garden each kid comes back with a bucket with at least 10 toads in it, then they proceed to build little towns for them to live in.
We recently went to visit our friends the Alexander’s, who live in Columbus. It was good for the Mama’s to get caught up on life again. Hope taught my daughters to stand on their heads. They all played in the muddy wading pool. We planned another joint birthday party at the lake for Hope and Alex for mid-July. Good stuff.
Other than that our last week has seen a whole lot of running around to play dates and programs, with a trip to the lake thrown in for good measure.

Summer antics

We’ve been back from our vacation for about a week now and are settling in nicely. All our clothing has been washed and put away; our slightly over grown gardens are looking respectable again, and we are ready to have some fun.
Since we have been back we have made our way to the family art center at the art museum. The children (and I) had a fabulous time creating a picnic lunch out of art supplies. Our meals looked quite yummy – almost yummy enough to eat.
We have also had a few play dates with friends. Alex is continuing his peer mentoring program over the summer. So he had a fun little play date with his buddy Ben, who has autism. There were a few play dates with the Rivera crew thrown in for good measure.
Now that everyone else is on summer vacation there are all sorts of fun summer activities that we’re excited about. Our library has a great weekly program for k-2nd graders that we’re looking forward to. Our church has a program called Kids Day Out, where all the K-4th graders meet and play goofy games at the church. So between those programs, our play dates, trips to the pool, and trips to the lake it’s going to be a pretty busy summer. Good stuff.
So yesterday I took the girls out in the yard because I needed summery photos for a project that I’m working on. I’m totally wiped out, end of the day tired. Screaming at my children who can’t seem to understand why I want their cooperation. Pretty sure that this is a recipe for disaster, but I have to try anyway. Not sure how I managed to pull it off, but I got a dozen good ones including these little gems. That pic of Louisa is currently my favorite one I have of her.

Happy Returns

We are officially back from our road trip to Maine. We had a fabulous time on this year’s road trip. We left here on a Friday afternoon, and drove to Cleveland for our first night. On day two we drove to a town right outside the Adirondacks in New York, we made pretty good time these two days, since we had no fun pit stops. Day three saw us exploring the Adirondacks, including a stop in Lake Placid to see the Olympics Training Center. After crossing Lake Champlain we stopped for the night in Vermont. Day four had us driving to Bar Harbor, Maine where we clambered around on the rocks as the tide went out, and realized just how cold Maine is at the coast. Day five had us exploring Acadia National Park (fortified with several layers of clothing this time). Highlights include driving to the top of Cadillac Mountain where we had a nice view of Frenchman’s Bay, watching (and hearing) the waves go in and out of a subterranean cave called Thunder Hole, and a yummy seafood lunch in Southwest Harbor. Day six brought rain, (which made the chilly coast even colder) so we drove down to Portland and saw a couple of lighthouses before turning west to start our long return. Day seven saw more rain, but warmer temperatures as we made our way through the Catskill Mountains. The rain kept us from thoroughly exploring these mountains, but we did see a few cool bridges and a reservoir. Day eight saw clear skies as we headed through the Allegheny Mountains. We stopped to hike in Rimrock park – a park that had cliffs, with stone stairs carved into a crevice to climb up and down. We also stopped at Kinzua Beach. A sweet little park overlooking a beautiful reservoir. Day nine took us back through Cleveland, with a pit stop to see the movie UP. Which we rather enjoyed – despite the annoying 3D glasses. With that being our only lengthy pit stop, it still managed to take us 13 hours to drive what could have probably been covered in 5ish hours. Not really sure how Jory pulled that one off. All I can say is my husband has a personal bias against 4 lane highways.

So now we are home, refreshed and renewed. Already day dreaming about our next road trip.

the girls discovering a tide pool in Bar Harbor

Alex chillin on Cadillac Mountain

Louisa at the Allegheny reservoir

A Sleepy Monday Morning

Who doesn’t love sleeping in, especially on a Monday. Alex and Annie are still snoozing on this fine morning, so I thought I’d take a moment to catch up on life around here.
The most exciting thing right now is the fact that we have 2 days of school remaining. Today and tomorrow. Then we are freeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. It couldn’t come any sooner, as I have about a million projects in the waiting. It was so worth having school on Christmas eve just to be done in mid May. I am very happy with where we are academically at the end of our year. Alex is at or above grade level in all of his disciplines, and the girls have chewed away at a significant portion of the “easy” Kindergarten material. So next year they will be able to get down to it, and focus on the more challenging concepts.
So yesterday was Mother’s Day. To celebrate we spent most of Friday and Saturday at the lake. It was too cold to be outside much, but that didn’t faze us at all. There were many books to read, games to play, and naps to take. Fun stuff. Yesterday we went out to lunch with my mom, brother, and our dear friend Cathy. Then came home to play outside. I managed to build a fence around my veggie garden, and a rather ugly (but functional) support for my peas to grow on.
What else…… we are planning on taking our big family vacation here in a few weeks. We are planning on driving to Maine (a new state for Jory and kids) so we are planning out what pit stops to make. I can imagine we’ll find many many places to stop and explore between here and there.

Interview

Our children’s minister gave us these questions to interview our kids with. I had the girls do this while Alex was working on his schoolwork.
What is your favorite food:
L: rice
A: pizza
What is your mom’s favorite food:
L: lasagna
A: chocolate
How old is your mom:
L: 30
A: 30
Who is your mom’s best friend:
L: Miss Becky (Levison)
A: Cathy Alexander
What does your mom do all day:
L: laundry
A: garden
(both good answers!)
What is your favorite tv show:
L: Cinderella
A: Word Girl
What is 1 thing you love to do with your mom:
L: watch movie
A: sew
What does your mom do after putting you to bed:
L: read a grown up book
A: watch tv
Alex's answers to come later...

Right now…

It’s been an exciting few days since our last post. We are thrilled that the weather is finally warm enough that we can be outside every day. It has become a daily ritual to run around the house and count how many daffodils are blooming. In a perfect world I’d have some sort of growth chart where we could plot how many of each color bloom we have and all sorts of critical information. But I don’t. This week my neighbor gave me a Rose of Sharon tree and about 30 iris rhizomes, so I spent all of my outside time getting those established. Plus my peas have sprouted. I was starting to loose hope that I’d get any peas this year, but they’ve finally found their way to the surface.
Annie is having some Grandma time this weekend. She went down to West Virginia with my mom on Friday, and will be home sometime today. It will be good to have her home again here in a few hours.
School is going well. We are down to 12 days remaining. We are so ready for summer vacation.

Currently…

It’s a icky rainy day here in our neighborhood. We are thinking of ways to entertain ourselves inside while we wait for the sun to come back out. I uploaded a few pics that I thought you might like to see. I was playing with this funky camera lens my dad got us a while back. So we have a daffodil bloom (one of many) and Miss Louisa hard at work on her “school”.
Speaking of school. We’re anxiously counting down the days. 20 remain. We ended up not taking a spring break this year. We are planning a family vacation to Maine this year and thought it would be slightly more enjoyable in late May than in early April. So we’ll go when we are all finished.
We had a fun mini vacation over the weekend. We took ourselves to Ann Arbor for lunch and a trip to the mall. We found this great little dollar movie theater, and watched Bedtime Stories with Adam Sandler. We were slightly nervous because we didn’t know much about the plot line, but we figured for $1 a ticket even if it was horrible we got our money’s worth. We ended up really enjoying it.

Easter was sort of a low-key event in this house. I didn’t feel like going through the works, so we took ourselves out to lunch and played in the yard all day. No bunnies, no eggs, no fancy dinner. The kids didn’t seem to mind all that much. They got ice cream instead of candy.

Updates

Spring is slowly eeking it’s way into our corner of the world. The weather is slowly but surely getting warmer and we are enjoying more and more time out in the sun.
We’ve been working on our garden this week. Our veggie garden is still under construction. I’m hoping to get it closer to done before a system of icky weather hits us next week. We’ll see. Our daffodils are starting to bloom. It’s early enough in the season that we are still doing a little dance every time we find a new bud or blossom. I image when we get to bloom # 976 we won’t be quite as excited. I recently took a tour of the area where the bulbs were dug from and discovered I wasn’t nearly as thorough as I thought I’d been. There are probably 500 bulbs that are still waiting to be moved to a safer location. Know anyone who wants some daffodils?
School is going well. The end of the year is quickly approaching. 27 days and counting. If we don’t take a family vacation this spring I’m estimating that we will finish around May 15th. As the weather is warming up and the garden is beckoning, that cut off day is looking sweeter and sweeter. Glad that we kept our noses to the grindstone all winter, so we could play in the spring. I don’t know whether to be amused or annoyed that all of our friends will still have another month of school after we are finished.
So Ms. Patty survived her encounter with our children. They apparently had a lovely time playing, reading and singing songs. A good time was had by all.
Oh, and our lovely cardinal friend from last year is back. Picking a fight with our sliding door again. I have pictures of him this year, but really I’m too lazy to get my camera and upload them. Earlier this week he was threatened not only by our door, but by my bedroom window as well. He made his displeasure with my window known early one morning this week, and I managed to confuse him by covering the inside of my window with wrapping paper. I’m still trying to decide if it’s worth the effort to cover the sliding door with paper or not.

More stuff

I’m so impressed with myself for updating 2x in the same week. You have no idea.
So my son has become quite the little businessman recently. It started with him creating his own currency (because I wouldn’t let him play with real money), which led to a nice little discussion about counterfeit money. Now we’re using that money to buy and sell anything and everything. Not only are we selling stuff in a store setting, we’re paying each other to perform tasks – mostly those related to cleaning. This morning the boy actually rented a toy to his sister. Not bad.
This totally happened last week and should have been in my last post, but I completely forgot. So here it goes. We all know that Alex is a reader. Nothing new. But he’s picking up a book just for fun more and more often. So last week. He read 3 Magic Tree House books (about 70 pgs apiece) just for fun. This is in addition to 3 books of the same length he read as required reading. He read an entire book one morning before breakfast. Now we’re not making any comments about the quality of his mother who didn’t get breakfast on the table until 9:30 – that’s beside the point.
Moving on. This spring we’re trying something new. In addition to our flower garden we’re planning a vegetable garden. We’re not actually planning on eating our produce (the girls have an aversion to all things green). We’re going to donate all our produce to the local food bank. The girls are so excited. They went with me to get all our supplies, and helped pick out a few seed packets. As soon as it is above 50 degrees (and not raining) we’ll get started.
One last little tidbit to share… This weekend the kids are going to stay at Ms. Patty’s house for the whole weekend. They are sooo excited. I had a fun weekend planned scrapbooking with the girls, and Jory wanted to go visit family. So she and Mr. Jeff graciously agreed to watch our kids for us. Hopefully we are all still friends at the end of the weekend.

General life…

Well life in these parts has been pretty typical these past few days. Let me try to pull up some recent memories to record…
We had a pretty bad rainstorm awhile back. It left our yard pretty much underwater. Without actually having measured how high the water was, I’d guess it was probably about 2 feet deep in some parts. Deep enough to submerge some of my daffodils completely and make getting and out of the driveway an interesting experience. But not bad enough to do damage to the house, so it’s all good. The good news is we’ve had plenty of dry days since that storm and the water has mostly receded, so I have most of my yard back, the roads are all dry, and the park to our north is open again.
Spring is here. Well sort of. It’s still pretty cold at night, but starting to warm up nicely during the days. We were able to spend some time out in the garden this week. Uncovering new growth here and there, picking up sticks and all those other fun chores you do when it’s not quite warm enough to really get into the soil. Keeping a close eye on our daffodils, which are finally starting to make some progress towards being real flowers instead of little tiny green nubs poking out of the ground. The spring peepers have come out of hibernation and are singing to us from the swamps. They make me smile whenever I hear them.
School is good. We’re getting closer and closer to the end. We can almost taste the freedom. 7 ½ weeks remain. The kids are all working super hard, and blossoming right before my eyes.

Update on life

So what’s happened since my last post? Well I turned 30 for one thing. Wahoo… My birthday was full of lots of my favorite things. Lunch with friends, a hike in the park (even though it was FREEZING!) and dinner with my parents. Fun times.
So the first signs of spring are starting to creep in around here. The weather is warming up slightly and little green things are poking their heads through the soil. I’d say about 1/3 of the daffodils we transplanted last fall have started to sprout. Every time we step out to play the kids run around the house taking stock of what is growing and how tall it is. We can’t wait to get out there and get our hands into the soil again.
So school is going well. The end of the year is creeping closer and closer. We have about 9 weeks left. If we don’t go anywhere for spring break we’re looking to be done in mid-May. Which is good, because who really wants to be learning when you could be planting something or taking a hike. Not us. We recently moved up to the 2nd grade texts for Spelling and Math. I just didn’t feel like the 1st grade texts were challenging him anymore. So even though he’s slightly annoyed that I took his “easy” work away, he once again seems sufficiently challenged. Which makes this Mama smile.

Bad bad bad.

Bad blogger I know. Don’t remind me.
So what’s going on in our house? Too much. Lets see what I can remember.
We’ve been a little sick this week. Lots of coughing and nose blowing, but nothing too serious.
Last weekend - President’s day weekend I took the kids out to the lake house. My mom and I took our scrapbook stuff and we crafted up a storm, Alex shoved his nose in a book, and the girls played. Then we hit up the President’s day sales at a local outlet mall. We found quite a few steals at Osh Kosh and at The Children’s Place.
Last night was game night for grown ups at our church. We used to have game nights all the time when the congregation was smaller. But for some reason we hadn’t had one in a while. It was good to get together with friends, and just hang out. Play some games, have some snacks, and just gab. It’s so hard to socialize on Sunday mornings anymore, it was nice to just kick back.
I’ve started working on the church website. We were having a hard time keeping it updated with fresh information and pictures, so I volunteered to keep track of the Children’s ministry portion. However, people are already asking me to take pictures for other areas outside of children’s ministry to post on the site. Eek. Just hoping it doesn’t get out of control.

Cabin fever is setting in around here. We’ve had a few days in the upper 40’s and 50’s. We are itching to get out and dig in the garden again. We (ok, I) are anxiously waiting for our little daffodils to poke their heads through the snow. Counting down the minutes until we can go outside without our heavy winter coats.

Play time

So the girls and I were goofing off in the field house while Alex was at his gym class. Louisa asked for a turn with the camera, and here's what I got.

Better than any of the pics that I took that day...

General life stuff

More than anything feeling guilty that I’m letting this thing called life slip past without hitting the pause button to record a few moments.
The girls have had their birthday. No big party, just dinner with Grandma and Grandpa. They got many fun gifts. Perhaps one of the favorites was a sleeping bag for each girl. Everyone knows that sleeping bags are for slumber parties right? As part of their gift, the girls got to spend the night at Grandma’s. I’m not sure who had more fun, my dad or the girls. I’m still working on their 5-year-old pics, I managed to get a nice one of both, but they flaked on me when it came time for individual shots. So I’ll have to do some retakes here one of these days.
On Saturday there was a huge carnival at our church. The carnival committee asked if I would be a photographer for the event. So since I was “working” and no one in my family wanted to wrangle my kids through the mayhem, I went alone. It was kinda nice to be at a church function and be able to socialize without little hands tugging on me. Heck, it was nice to just be able to socialize at all.
In other news, yesterday was the first day freezing in weeks, so the kids finally got to make a snowman. It was also the first time I let the kids dress themselves and go out unsupervised. I generally go out with them still, but I had a lot of work to do yesterday. They did just fine, except for a minor mishap with a sled. Little by little, independence is creeping in.
Oh and a kid funny that I almost forgot. Driving to town, the kids are all being loud and obnoxious as usual, and Louisa is trying to say something to Jory. Well she had had about enough of Annie, so she hollers "Annie, stop errupting!"

right now...

I was looking through some pictures I took of the girls at their gym class last week, and couldn’t resist posting a few of my favorites.
So all is well in Peterson-land. School is going well. Tomorrow is our 100th day, so we’re excited about that. We finished the 1st grade spelling text last week, so now we’re working on a few high frequency words that he should probably know before we plunge into the 2nd grade text. He’s also transitioned from reading picture books to full-fledged chapter books – which is hard because nearly all the beginning chapter books are geared towards girls. But the girls are enjoying their “school work”. I love how when I announce that it’s time for school they excitedly run to the table eager to learn.
Cathy Gresham was here over the weekend. The girls turn 5 on Tuesday, so she came in for a little pre-birthday goodness. It was good to catch up a little, and let her entertain my children with an endless stack of stories.
We’ve had our fair share of winter weather this week. It all started with a system last weekend that dropped about 8 inches of snow on us, then we had 2 or 3 smaller squalls come through that dropped a few more inches. That piled on top of subzero temperatures has us looking forward to spring. We’re trying to make the most of it though; our lovely mulch piles on the annex have been fun for sledding and jumping off of. And here's one of Alex I just found having fun in the snow just for kicks

Snowed in

We're in the middle of a nice gentle snow storm. Nice little flakes have been falling on our heads for about 30 hours now, we're supposed to have about 12 inches when it's all finished. We were out in it earlier, sledding on the mulch piles. So here's Ms. Annie in the hat my mom made her for Christmas. And young Alex who had just jumped off a smallish mulch pile into a soft mound of snow. He's so impressed with himself.

Stuff

Well Alex is sleeping in this morning, so I have a few extra moments this morning as I wait to start my day.
Over the weekend I had a girls night out. I went with some friends to a movie/dinner/game night to celebrate a friend’s graduation from nursing school. Seems like most of my nights out revolve around scrapbook get togethers. It was fun to do something different.
We had a couple of days off of school last week. It’s funny how productive I can be when there’s no school and it’s to cold/yucky to be outside. There was much reorganizing/purging done. Feels good to let go of the clutter. During my time off I also took the time to get formal lessons planned for the girls. I like to start giving my kids formal “seat work” the January before they start Kindergarten. That way we can be properly transitioned into “school mode” by the time August rolls around. Alex was not the worksheet type, so we usually just played counting games or something for his “school” during those early days. But the girls think it’s “fun” to sit down with worksheets. So they’re starting with letter/number formation.
This week the kids are starting gym classes. Alex is taking a homeschool gym class, and the girls are taking something called Energy Zone which sounds like a combination of creative movement and letters/numbers/shapes. They are so excited. One of my goals for the year is to get the kids involved in a few nonchurch extracurriculars. Expand our social horizons a little.

Snow and ice

My mom has the kids for the afternoon, and you know what that means - play time. Here are some pics that I’ve been playing with from a recent ice storm…

Post Christmas post.

We kicked off our holiday week with a visit from some of our extended family. Some of my mom’s family came up for a few days last weekend. It was so good to see them again. It’d been a while since I’d seen my cousins. We had a little gift exchange, where I received a nice hat and scarf, which were promptly snatched up by my daughters.
Next up was a visit to Columbus. Our first stop was with the Alexander family, where my kids fell right into step with their kids all over again. Just like peas and carrots. And Cathy and I? Well, peas and carrots. So good to visit with them and see their house all decorated for Christmas. Good times. Our second visit was with some of my friends from college, the Smiths. They got married about 3 weeks after we did, Jonna and I tried on wedding dresses together. It was great to finally meet their cutie, Natalie (who shares my birthday!)
Christmas day? Well that was a flutter of twinkling lights, wrapping paper and hot chocolate. The kids got some great toys. The favorites were marble works (which was one of my favorites as a kid), some “talkie-hawkies” (walkie talkies), and some “comfy dolls” handmade by my mom. And Jory and I? Well we got lots of toys ourselves. Scrapbook stuff, a portable GPS and new lenses for my camera. Not a bad haul in the end.
Now the only problem is which toy to play with first…

Kid funny and other misc.

The other day I was cooking supper and there was a bottle of soy sauce on the counter. Louisa wanders over and says “Mom, you’re not using that soil sauce on the chicken are you?”
In other news, we are all about the paper airplanes this week. Alex received a book about how to make paper airplanes as an early Christmas gift. So he’s been perfecting his craft all week. He’s had a ball learning all the different styles, and creating his own unique creations. Some work better than others of course, but that’s part of the learning right? So glad that I can provide a learning environment that embraces paper airplanes, and sees them as a learning opportunity and not a distraction. I’m sure some teacher, somewhere is breathing a sigh of relief that she doesn’t have his fleet of paper airplanes taking over her classroom.
Alex’s 1st Christmas play performance was this week. Of course I was in the front row for his acting debut, camera glued to my eyeball. He delivered his little line perfectly, right into the mike. Proud mama.

Thanksgiving pics and general updates.

Well, since my children are still mostly asleep (at 9:30 - gotta love that), I thought I'd take a minute and post a few Thanksgiving pics.

I took so many that I love, so it was hard to pick. In the end, I went for shots of the cousins since my children are fairly well represented on this here blog. So we have Levi, wearing Alex's hand me down coat, and sweet baby Lance. As well as a group shot for Grandma P.

Currently…

Well I meant to do a big post about our trip at thanksgiving complete with pictures and the whole works, but frankly I’m thinking that’s not happening. So you get the 10-second version. We took the train out to Kansas City to visit with Jory’s family. We went there because it was sort of a central location for everyone, and most of us hadn’t been there yet, so it would be fun to explore. And it was. KC was a very fun little town indeed. We went exploring at the Crown Center, and shopping in the shopping district. We saw a fun cultural presentation about Russia at the Toy and Miniature Museum. The museum itself was also very fun. We had lots of fun playing with Grandma Peterson in the pool, playing board games, and getting in some cousin time. I got to meet my new little nephew, who is a cutie pie. It was very fun indeed.
Um… life here is a little crazy. I don’t have any of my cmas décor out yet. The children took pity on me earlier in the week and put out some “decorations” which mostly consisted of legos and action figures. If you look at it with your eyes half shut it could be a nativity I suppose. Whatever. No shopping has been done, no gifts, no wrappings, but I’ve got the hot chocolate thing covered, and the fire in the fireplace – oh yeah.

Mostly random

It kills me to look at the pics in the last post of us playing outside in tee shirts. How quickly the weather changes in these parts.
Checkers, checkers, checkers. I think it was a mistake to teach Alex to play checkers. He’s slightly obsessed with the game now. He asks everyone to play about 20 times a day, and the only one who ever obliges is Jory. Poor little guy.
We’re getting ready for a train trip to Kansas City for Thanksgiving. We’re meeting up with the rest of the Peterson clan. We’re very excited for another ride on the train, and to meet our new little cousin, Lance. Not to mention exploring a new city that none of us have ever been to. So lots of packing, baking, and Christmas gift-wrapping are happening in this house.
Yesterday I had a photo shoot with my friend Emily’s daughter, Eva. Eva’s birthday was last week and instead of selecting a gift for her party, I volunteered to do her 3-year-old portraits. She did super until my own children came in and got her all wound up. Mental note: Don’t take yahoo children to photo shoots unless absolutely necessary. When it is necessary, LOCK THEM IN THE VAN.
More random stuff: Christmas cards are done, make sure I have your address. We caught 2 mice this week (yuck). We got an inch of snow. And I think I’ve figured out how to help our children’s minister design our publications without using her stupid (I mean wonderfully terrific) software.

At the park

Last week was in the 70's around here. Which is really rare, to have a whole week in the 70's, this late in the year. So that coupled with a new understanding of how my camera works = lots of pics to share. So here we are playing at the park. Louisa's in green, the other two are of Annie. The photogenic child.

Playing in the leaves

More of my kids from the leaves.

Swing ones are coming. Perhaps.

Crazy times.

So the last few days around here have been a little crazy. For one thing it’s been in the 70’s since Friday. So of course we’ve been outside playing as much as possible, soaking up the last few hours of warm temperatures outdoors. Getting absolutely no work done. It’s all good right?
So let me think… Halloween was good. We made our trick or treating debut this year. The kids were so excited and nervous, they bombarded me with questions for days. Alex was a spooky planet (that looked remarkably like a pumpkin), Annie was a butterfly, and Louisa was a dragonfly. We went around in my mom’s neighborhood, and afterward the kids spent the night at my mom’s house. Fun stuff.
Saturday I had my first paid photo shoot with the Beam family from church. They wanted a 4 generational portrait taken with their new little boy. So I got some good family group shots and a couple of cute candids thrown in for good measure. While I don’t see myself going professional anytime soon, it was really fun, and slightly addicting. So I imagine I’ll do more in the future. If people ask, that is.
So I have a ton of pics to share, but frankly I don’t really have time to retrieve them right now. But some seriously cute ones of Alex in the leaves, and the girls on the swings at the park yesterday. Not to mention that cute little Beam baby.

Adventures in my world

It’s been a while. Suppose it’s time for another update. It was a pretty good weekend in our house. Saturday was Make a Difference Day at our church. They had like 8 service projects planned, plus they were serving lunch. So we went and had pizza with some friends, then we took Alex to the Senior Center to play Uno (the girls stayed and played in the nursery). Afterward he told me that when he’s a grown up he’s going to go over there every day to play cards. I hope he does.
This weekend we were glued to the TV watching The Perils of Penelope Pitstop. I had never heard of it, but Annie picked it up at the library, so I figured why not? Well it was an instant hit with all five of us. If you’ve never seen it, it’s a cartoon series from the 60’s and it’s FREAKING HILARIOUS. When you get a chance, go look for it on u-tube or something. It’s worth it.
That’s about all, we’re gearing up for a busy week around here. In addition to the normal humdrum of life, I seriously need to get started on my Christmas projects.

Scenes from my life

Playing outside recently, we have:

Alex and his missing teeth

Louisa strangling her brother

Annie playing under a pile of leaves

Random

Over the weekend Alex lost his second tooth. So I mentioned to him that we should put it under his pillow for the tooth fairy. (We lost the first one before we could request the tooth fairy’s services.) He looks me in the eye and asks if the tooth fairy is real. Not being one to lie to my children, I asked him if he wanted the truth, or if he wanted a story. He’s not dumb, he wanted the truth. So I gave it to him, and asked if he wanted to pretend that I was the tooth fairy. A pretty good arrangement if you ask me.
Last night the fire department came over to run a training practice on the house on our annex. We went over to watch, and learn a little about their procedure. The kids got a tour of the fire truck, the ambulance, and got to look through a heat-seeking camera. Then before we left we got to watch them suit up and go in. Way cool.
I am currently dealing with another round of poison ivy. I’m still waiting for it to stop getting worse so it’ll start getting better.
Went to the apple butter festival over the weekend. We were late so we didn’t get to see them making apple butter, but we got to watch them make cider instead, so it was ok. The living history encampments were excellent as usual. The kids met Mark Twain, sat inside a teepee and made candles. Good stuff.
The garden is good. I used up the rest of my bulbs over the weekend. Planted the last 100ish so that I could say I put in 1,000. The rest were scattered around to various people in the community. I have a few tasks left to do before I’m ready to call it done for the winter. We’ll see if I can’t bang them out here in my last few really nice days of fall

The life and times

Fall is rapidly descending on our house. As much as I hate to see my garden fading, I love the fall colors! We are very blessed to live in a heavily wooded community, so we have lots of pretty leaves to admire. While they aren’t out in full force yet, it’s only a matter of time…
So in other news, the daffodil project is coming along. At last check I have planted around 875 bulbs. My goal is 1,000, but I’m seriously running out of places for them. They’re completely surrounding the house, under all the trees, in the iris bed on the corner, and in the overflow garden. I’m thinking about starting a second overflow garden for the remaining bulbs. We’ll just have to see…
The kids are good. Not a whole lot to report. Settling into the new fall routines… Getting lots of outside time in before it gets too cold…

Another week bites the dust

The last few days have been rather creative in our house. My children found my stash of clean trash (milk jug lids, empty food containers and toilet paper tubes) and went to town. We had a whole fleet of ships, some of which actually floated. We also used the toilet paper tubes to make binoculars. And finally the paper shredder. My children have used it to shred every piece of scrap paper they can find. We are currently on day 3 of our obsession with all things shredded. My vacuum has definitely gotten a good workout this week. In case you were wondering, the little collections of shredded paper that I keep finding all over my house are called “hugcug” and you will get in big trouble if you throw them out. (Ask me how I know).
I continue to dig up my yard in a vain attempt to find homes for all my daffodils. I think I have planted about 200, and feel like I haven’t made a dent in my stash. Currently working to clean out an old iris bed on the annex in hopes that I can squeeze about 25 bulbs in there. We shall see.
In other news, school is going well. We’re through with about 6 weeks. Alex has become rather good at spelling. He aced the last 2 pretests I gave him. I’m faced with the eternal struggle that all homeschoolers eventually face – do I let him work ahead, or divert his attention to something else. Right now I’m letting him work ahead, so he’ll be done with the 1st grade spelling book before the end of the year. When we’re done with that, then I’ll worry about what to do next.

The times

Jory has been out of town this week. He went down to NM with his brother to ride motorcycles. So I’ve had an interesting week as a single parent. I’m a little spoiled, in that Jory almost never travels for work, and doesn’t really have any “guys” that he hangs with, so he’s usually here when he’s not working. It’s not that I mind that he has some “me time”, it’s just a little bit of a kick in the gut when he goes off and does it all at once. Having fun for a whole week with no responsibilities while I hold down the fort. Anyway.
We survived, but we’re glad it’s almost over.
The kids and I have been digging a new garden this week. Trying to figure out what to do with our 1000+ daffodil bulbs from the annex. It’s along our front walkway leading to our door. I’d take a picture, but it’s just dirt right now. Not very interesting. We’ll talk again in April when it’s a lovely swatch of yellow and white.
So my children have entered a new phase. We’re done with the challenging adult authority stage common to 2-3 year olds. Now we’re in the teasing phase. I swear every 5 minutes someone is playing copy cat, poking someone, or just generally annoying someone else (not to mention me!). The joys of parenting, right?

A week in the life

These past few days have been pretty typical. We had another stray dog decide to take up camp on our porch, but a call to the dog warden took care of him. Alex actually enjoyed having a pet for a few days, but the girls – not so much.
I have been wrestling with the garden again. We think that we will probably end up burning the abandoned house on the corner down, which means that all of the plants (and bulbs) next to the house need to be dug out. Which means that I have to find places for all these things. I’ve already started one overflow garden and am contemplating a few more. Speaking of gardens, I finally took some pics of the one I started earlier this spring. It’s in full bloom and is beautiful. So stay tuned for those.
School is going well. We have nearly 3 weeks under our belt. We are starting to notice the workload difference between Kindergarten and 1st. Pursuing ideas more in depth, and much more writing. Plus we’ve introduced the concepts of tests and grades – which has been a great motivator. Alex is always asking, “did I get 100%?”
Alex was invited to his first real birthday party over the weekend, a little friend from church. I was exposed to what birthday parties have become. I don’t want to know how much time and money was spent on this party, but it was over the top. Can’t say we’ll be joining in on that competition any time soon. We’ll stick with cupcakes and balloons. Thanks.
Other than that, life is good. Squeezing out every last drop of summer. Hanging out with friends, starting Sunday school at church, and back to school clothes shopping.

Recent photos and stuff...

Here's a new pic of Alex without his tooth. I took one at Nelson Ledges, but I accidently deleted it. Nice.

And here's another one for my dad - with that lense he's letting me borrow... Trying to be artistic...

What’s up?

Life has been crazy these past few days, just popping in for an update…
Over the weekend we had a fun outing. Our main reason for the outing was a car race at Nelson Ledges. This one was a fundraiser for Muscular Dystrophy that we agreed to help with. But the race didn’t start until the afternoon, so we had lots of time to kill. First we stopped by the Gilliland’s (the family with 7 kids). We hadn’t seen them in over a year, so it was time. It was good to reconnect with them. While we were there, Alex lost his first tooth in his sandwich at lunch. Yes I have a picture (somewhere), and No the tooth fairy hasn’t been to our house yet. Bad mom. I know. Don’t remind me.
After the Gilliland’s we went hiking at Nelson Ledges State Park. Which we had driven by several times this summer and never made the effort to stop. The ledges are a great place to hike, we went there several times while I was in college. However they really aren’t designed for children aged 4-6. As the name suggests, they are full of rather dangerous cliffs and rock formations that are just begging to be climbed on. Mix that with loose soil and kids in sandals. Eek. Even for these laid back parents. It was fun, but we’ll go back in 5 years when the kids are old enough to recognize danger a little better.
So after the (near fatal) hiking trip, we headed over to the racetrack to put in our time. (AKA socialize with our racing friends and eat cherry cobbler) Despite being completely exhausted, and confined to the tent we were working out of, the kids did rather well. Sure, they had no interest in playing with any of the toys I brought, no desire to watch the races, and had no little friends to play with this time; but they didn’t really complain, and they weren’t overly annoying either. They’re such troopers.
So those were our weekend highlights, yesterday my friend dropped her 9 year old off with us, so she go to work. It was kinda nice having a “big” kid around. He watched over my kids so I could do yard work. I took full advantage by diving headfirst into a patch of daffodils on our new property that have been very neglected over the years. I think at the end of the day I ended up with around 400 bulbs (which is just a fraction of what is there!) Now I just have to figure out where to put all these babies where I can see them…

kid funny

Over breakfast this morning Alex bellows "Mom! Annie is naked with pants on!"

????

School starts this morning! Wish us luck!

The end of summer

It’s official. Summer vacation is nearly over. I have my lesson plans written for Monday. Feels good to be able to meet my deadline this year instead of slacking off and pushing it back like I did last summer. Feeling slightly panicked that I don’t have enough lesson ideas to take me to May, but I’m sure I’ll be fine.
So what did we do with our last week of summer vacation? I’d like to say we went out and did all sorts of fun things like the water park or the zoo, but we didn’t. I have been working on my lessons, and cleaning up the property next door. We don’t know when we’ll be able to take the house down, but we’ve done a lot of weeding and mowing and making the ground look a little more presentable, found some flowers and plants that we need to transplant.
Oh, and we’re watching the Olympics. Well, Alex and I are. The girls prefer to watch a video for their 30 min of tv time. Too bad the gymnastics is on so late, I don’t even stay up to watch that.

Winding down

Well our summer is winding down around here. The pressure of school is looming down on our little heads. Pretty gosh darned stoked to get back in the groove, and enjoy the learning process once again. Last year I opted to not purchase a boxed set of curriculum, and just used the resources available at our public library. Risky move I know, but it paid off pretty well. This year I have again opted not to buy curriculum in favor of the public library. It would be a lot easier to buy a bunch of workbooks and say, “here you go, have fun!” but the educator in me cringes at the sight of a pile of worksheets, so I go in search of authentic learning experiences (and a few worksheets). And searching, and searching. Lots of searching. But this year I understand just how much searching is involved, so I started early. I feel like I have a pretty good outline set up for the year, now it’s just a matter of filling in the blanks. Better than the pile of worksheets I started with last year. (eek! I know) So I’m excited about where we’re going.
Anyway. Life around these parts is good. Busy, but good. Working on curriculum, going on play dates, picking blackberries, sleeping in a tent, picking wildflowers (ahem – weeds). Squeezing the last little bit of fun out of our summer before it’s over.
Excited for the Olympics to start tonight. Looking for a schedule of events, trying to figure out age appropriate ways to incorporate the games into our learning.

Welcome August

I’m not sure where July went, or even June for that matter, but August is here and there’s not much I can do about it, so I might as well celebrate it’s arrival right?
VBS has come and gone. Week two went by faster than the first. I ended up with seven preschoolers in my class, which was just the right amount. Seven super sweet, slightly wiggly little ones, three adult helpers, who complimented each other’s strengths (and weaknesses) amazingly. Very fun, but glad to be done. None of my own children seemed to mind the fact that they had to go to both weeks of VBS, which was a blessing.
Now that VBS is done I can contemplate the areas of my life that have been ignored for two weeks. A garden full of weeds, loaded blackberry vines, and enough cleaning to keep me busy for a while. Did I mention school? Oof. I have a general map in my head of where we’re going with 1st grade, but the details are pretty sketchy. I think my plan is to start on August 18th. We’ll just see how that deadline holds up to the craziness of August.