Backyard Bookworms

I might as well make it official

2009-07-13T10:34:00.002-06:00

I've been working on a new blog this week, and I am hereby officially redirecting this blog to:

http://itsnotnothing.wordpress.com/

Isaac Update 07122009 0719

2009-07-12T06:39:00.000-06:00

We had an uneventful night. Isaac opened his eyes for a few moments again and went back to sleep. He peed a lot and lost a bit of weight, though he has a long way to go before he has returned to the nine pounds he was when I brought him in. Prayer requests for this morning: -Isaac's blood sugar is too low, so his ketogenic diet TPN is being discontinued by the intentivist and he'll be put on regular diet TPN as soon as the TPN is ready. (TPN is IV nutrition, and the ketogenic diet is a low carb diet used to manage some metabolic diseases among other things). -There is much debate over how to manage Isaac's needs - should they treat him like a regular cardiac kid or like Danny. How much sugar does he need? How much fat and protein? What supplements? Please pray that God will grant the doctors much wisdom in this area. EAch doctor has his own way, and when they argue, they stress me out. -Isaac's lactate levels have risen back to around 7. Its been steadily rising from 4.9 since yesterday afternoon. Normal is around 2. Danny was pretty much never below 7. The rise in Isaac's could have to do with the blood sugar issues. Or the fluid overload. or something else entirely. Please pray that the lactate levels go back own. Other than that, it's another day of watching and waiting and fine tuning treatment according to Isaac's needs.

Isaac Update 07112009 2019

2009-07-12T06:36:00.000-06:00

Today was eventful in a good way. Isaac is no longer on epinephrine! His lactate level is 4.7, which is still high (normal is less than 2), but Danny's lactate level was never lower than 7. That is one of several things that show that Isaac is different than Danny. Even if he has the same thing, he's much less severely affected.

I had my emotional breakdown this morning. We all knew it would come, and it did. I'm sure that it won't be the last one either, but the first is usually the worst. However, I was rescued from my pity-party by my husband and a old friend from the Little Light House - both of whom God used to speak peace to my heart and to calm my fears and ease my frustrations. God gave them both the ability to see though my foolish concerns and speak wisdom to me. In spite of it all, God is good, and He continues to bless us in the circumstances that we are in.

I don't understand His purpose in all of this, but I'm going to choose to trust Him anyway. Danny taught us that God is sovereign and faithful and true. Each of our other boys has lessons for us. I'm sure Isaac is going to teach us plenty.

edited to add: I am realizing that I need to tell you all that the perceived infection (if it existed) is probably going away with the broad-spectrum antibiotic that Isaac's on and the prayers. The cultures aren't growing anything. And he's peeing much better, though he is still puffy. He has a way to go in that area.

Isaac Update 07112009 0652

2009-07-11T06:20:00.000-06:00

The night was uneventful. There was a tiny bit of weaning of medication. And some lab work. And a transfusion. And some sleeping. That was about it. We saw some old friends, too.

Please continue to pray for
-Isaac's blood pressure to remain consistent as the medications are very slowly weaned
-Isaac to be able to rest well today
-our other boys to have a wonderful day with Mimi and Popsy
-Jon and I as we move beyond shock and disbelief that this has happened, and because waiting is hard.

Isaac Update 07102009 2041

2009-07-11T06:15:00.001-06:00

Well, it was the uneventful day we were hoping for. There's not much going on this evening except meds and labs and more waiting on labs and such.

Isaac is now warmed up to 96.8 degrees F. His color looks good, his output is now appropriate and he got a visit from Drew today. Drew had a lovely birthday and finished it off with a visit to Isaac.

Isaac Update 07102009 1014

2009-07-11T06:14:00.000-06:00

Isaac's labs show that he may have an infection brewing. Please pray.

Isaac Update 07102009 0622

2009-07-11T06:13:00.000-06:00

It's another day of waiting. And today we get to warm him up. Isaac's body temperature has been kept at about 92 degrees F for the past couple of days to protect his brain and organs from the effects of the hypoxic event he suffered while he was being resuscitated. All of his blood gases are looking about the same (normal ph with elevated lactate and slightly low bicarb). His kidney function has improved a bit, but there is still a lot of room for more improvement. He hasn't has more wiggly moments, but he has rested nicely this past night.

Isaac Update 07102009 0139

2009-07-11T06:11:00.000-06:00

OK, Praying Peoples, we've got a specific request for you.
Pray for increased kidney function and for the lasix to do it's job. Isaac has some weight to lose, and he needs to increase his production of pee-pee.

Otherwise, he's resting nicely. And I'm going to go back to sleep for a while, too.

Isaac Update 07092009 2336

2009-07-09T22:36:00.002-06:00

Isaac has had a pretty good day. There were no major improvements, but there were no setbacks either. His ph level is holding steady at 7.35, which is normal. His bicarb and lactate levels are skewed, which we know would be consistent with a COX-2 deficiency diagnosis. We refuse to give up hope for his complete restoration because we know that we have a creative and loving God who does heal miraculously. God might heal him completely, and God might not, but who am I to argue with Him? Isaac did get restless this evening. His blood pressure was even, so we know he wasn't in much pain. He stretched and wiggled and tried to open his eyes and peep at me. He squeezed my finger, too. His movements were the same little Isaac stretches that we have seen at him with no stiffness or tremor. He was wiggly for about a half an hour, during which I held his hand and sang to him (not that anyone else would have enjoyed my singing, but he doesn't seem to mind it). And now we've gotten him quite comfy and he's settled for the first leg of the night.

Prayer requests:

-peace and rest

-improved heart function

-improved lab values for both the lactate and the bicarb while everything else holds steady.

-that Drew would have a wonderful birthday tomorrow in spite of all of this

-that God would heap blessing on the army of people who love us and are caring for us

Isaac Update 07092009 0658

2009-07-09T14:14:00.000-06:00

Well, Isaac and I actually slept a bit last night. His blood pressure got low enough that we were all almost worried about it - and he stayed right there for a long time. He really slept. Not just the drug-induced sedation, but real sleep. And then his pressures came back up nicely when the x-ray tech slipped the film for the morning x-ray under him. And when the nurse was changing the dressings on his incision and central lines, he got made and needed more sedation. (I don't like that we were hurting him, but I'm thrilled that he was mad about it because yesterday he didn't seem to mind some things that should have been painful.)

As for the lab values,
We asked for a ph of 7.35, and we're at 7.34.
And his lactate didn't make 5 or less yet, but we are at 9.9 - so he's found the single digits.

And there is peace in this room this morning. The Spirit of the Lord has come with healing on his wings.

Isaac Update 07082009 2225

2009-07-08T21:44:00.001-06:00

It was a good day for Isaac.

Today, "Good Day" means that nothing got worse. He's still pretty much where he was this morning. He's still got all the lines and drugs and equipment that he was using this morning (and he's quite the technology guy today). But he's resting, and his blood pressure is more stable and his labs look a bit better.

It was a good day for us. God is indeed good all the time, and He has provided us with a huge and loving support network for which we are very thankful.

Prayer requests for the night:
-That everything would remain stable so that we can all get some rest.
-That Isaac's brain would not be at all damaged
-That Isaac's heart would be healed completely
- Some specific lab levels - we're looking for a ph of 7.35 and a lactate level of five or less.
-That any underlying problem would be removed completely by our Creator God who heals.

2009-07-08T07:54:00.001-06:00

07082009 0847

Everything was kind of touch and go for Isaac until about 3:30am. And then his blood pressure started to stabilize, and we got a little rest. He is still extremely ill, but things aren’t quite as grave as they were last night. He’s on even more drugs, and it’s going to be a long day of waiting and watching.

Bookworm #5

2009-07-07T23:31:00.000-06:00

Since he was born, #5 has breathed faster than he should. And no one really thought much of it. His respiratory rate was the upper level of what is considered normal. So, the pediatrician ordered some labs and a chest x-ray just to see if there was a problem. The labs were fine, and the chest films were inconclusive. So he ordered an echo, but we miscommunicated about who was calling who about what. So, the echo didn't happen until this afternoon.

The echo was at 3:30pm, and it showed fluid around his heart. Our favorite pediatric cardiologist was on-call, and he came in immediately. He admitted #5 to PICU at St. Francis in order to drain the fluid in a simple procedure.

But, it wasn’t simple. In the process, his heart started bleeding, and he wound up having heart surgery in the PICU room. Now he is stabilizing in the PICU on many, many drugs. And it’s going to be a long night.

In the process of all this, we learned that his heart looks just like Bookworm #1's. So we will be starting the process of genetic diagnosis. It is possible that he has defied our good odds of having only healthy children after Bookworm #1. He may have COX-2 deficiency.

We'll just have to wait and see. Please pray.

2009-06-22T21:31:00.004-06:00

Today, I cleaned my kitchen (twice), picked up other people's crap off the floor (numerous times), taught school (copywork, grammar, math, history, botany, piano), finished a book (Lessons from Blackberry Inn), started another (Creative Correction), snuggled with various needy children at appropriate times, fixed my husband his Father's Day dinner (steak and roasted veggies with pasta), and made sure that everyone was where they needed to be when they needed to be there (doctor's appointments, swimming lessons...).

Today, I spent TWO HOURS at a doctor's appointment for which we were FIVE MINUTES LATE even thought we left FORTY minutes early for a FIFTEEN minute trip. I'd have everything packed up for hours. All we had to do was put on shoes, potty, and get in the van. And then there was traffic. And construction. And a cop with a lane blocked while he wrote some idiot a ticket. And #3 fell asleep in the van. So, when my mom met me to be my spare hands, she wound up bringing a whiny, cranky kid with who took a 10 minute nap back home. So, I had the Great Ball of Energy (#2), and #4, and #5 at the doctor's office by myself. That was interesting. They really did very well, but oh-my-they-were-not-created-to-wait-long. And as for why it took so long - well, that's what you get when you combine my new insurance with our pediatrician's office's new computerized record-keeping system and a two-year old who needs some vaccinations - but we don't know which ones because his chart has gone AWOL and a one-month old who is likely to have silent reflux and needs some labwork and a x-ray to rule out other problems in order to receive medication to make him stop refluxing. Poor baby. Plus, on the way out, it took forever to pay and get future appointments made (one seven-year-old well-child exam, one two-month old well-child exam, and a third attempt at a nurse visit to get the shots for the two-year-old who isn't going to appreciate such a thing.)

Today, I wore flip-flops. My poor toes were rolled over with roller skates, stepped on several times, jumped on once, and caught under a door at the doctor's office. Tomorrow, I'm wearing Keens. I want my poor toes to be well-protected until they recover. I wear flip-flops all the time - I don't know what was up today.

I'm tired now. I'm going to take care of a little business and then sleep.

Heard in our living room....

2009-06-13T07:24:00.003-06:00

(#2 to #5)

"You aren't big enough to eat yet - just to drink milk. But soon you'll be able to eat squished food, and then you'll grow teeth and get to try chicken fingers! They are so tasty!"

(a few moments later)

"Are you wondering how I'm talking? That red thing that you breathe though is called a mouth, and after you learn to use it, you'll be able to talk too."

Be a Book Buddy

2009-06-01T01:24:00.002-06:00

School Library Journal posted the Top 100 Picture Book Poll of 2009. (Thank you SLJ!) From that fabulous list, I have created some more fun for all of us! Here's the scoop:
*
Below is a list of the top 30 Picture Books according to School Library Journal. Copy and paste this post and create a post of your own with it. Then, go back and highlight the books you and your children have read! After you post, leave a comment at The Bookworm's Booklist to let me and others know that your post is up. I can't wait to see who's read what! I have highlighted the books we've read in green. And I just placed the ones we haven't discovered yet on hold at the library.

#1: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (1963)   A BACKYARD BOOKWORM FAVORITE
#2: Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown (1947)
#3: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (1979)
#4: The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats (1962)
#5: Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems (2003)
#6: Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey (1941)
#7: Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson (1955)   A BACKYARD BOOKWORM FAVORITE
#8: Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans (1939)
#9: Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag (1928)
#10: Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems (2004)
#11: The Story of Ferdinand by Monroe Leaf, ill. Robert Lawson (1936)
#12: Good Night Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann (1994)
#13: Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey (1948)
#14: The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka, ill. Lane Smith(1989)
#15: Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes (1996)
#16: Owl Moon by Jane Yolen (1987)
#17: Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina (1947)
#18: In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak (1970)
#19: Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney (1982)
#20: George and Martha by James Marshall (1972)
#21: Bark, George by Jules Feiffer (1999) A BACKYARD BOOKWORM FAVORITE
#22: The Monster at the End of this Book by Jon Stone, ill. by Mike Smollin (1971)   A BACKYARD BOOKWORM FAVORITE
#23: Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban, illustrated by Lillian Hoban (1964)
#24: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault, ill. Lois Ehlert (1989)  A BACKYARD BOOKWORM FAVORITE
#25: The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton (1942)
#26: Corduroy by Donald Freeman (1976)
#27: The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter (1902)
#28: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst, ill. Ray Cruz(1972)
#29: Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig (1969)
#30: Brown, Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? by Bill Martin Jr., ill. Eric Carle (1967)

And he has arrived....

2009-05-27T17:56:00.003-06:00

I'm sitting in my comfy chair at home with a tiny boy asleep on top of me. He's absolutely precious.

And very much adored

We're taking the week off from school. The King has been home all week, but he goes to work tomorrow. We'll see how that goes.

The time has come, and I'm a tad nervous....

2009-05-21T20:32:00.002-06:00

Bookworm #5 will be joining us tomorrow.

Yep, you heard it right.

I've been three centimeters all week and having lots of contractions. Neither my OB nor I want this baby to come on the weekend because hospital rules don't allow for weekend VBACs, and I refuse to have a c-section for someone else's convenience - if it's medically necessary, than sure - but not just because someone else said I have to.) So, tomorrow it is. I'm contracting quite a bit, though things aren't organized. Hopefully it will pick up a bit though the night because I would really, really like to be in labor when I arrive at the hospital in the morning. It just seems easier that way. All the little Bookworms will be well-cared for while we are gone because all the grandparents are on deck tomorrow. There is nothing at all to worry about concerning them, so I can just go birth this baby.

Tonight, I need to dump the pictures that are on the camera to the King's computer and to our back-up drive. And I need to charge the batteries in the camera. But, aside from a few loads of laundry, that is about it. Amazing. Everything is finally done, as if it were all orchestrated by God, so that I feel ready to do this in one sense. And in another, I know that once he's here, my world's going to be turned upside-down.... again.... until we find our new normal in a few weeks.

On other fronts: #3 is daily amusing me with his conversations - particularly those he has with other children. #2 just had his first case of true bookwormishness. He was listening to an audiobook of The Wizard of Oz that we borrowed from the library - and he sat still with the CD player for TWO AND A HALF HOURS. (This from a boy that isn't even still when he is asleep.) But he HAD to know how it ended. Then he wanted to know if it had been made into a movie. He was deeply disappointed to hear that it has, but that the movie is really quite different from the book. I've promised to get it from the library in the near future. We shall see what he thinks. In the meantime, he's determined to listen to the whole book again. #4's vocabulary is exploding and we're thrilled to be hearing new words from him on a daily basis.

And that's about all. I'm being paged by children who are too excited to sleep. Guess I'd better go read a bit more of a book in order to keep them quiet.

In case you are curious....

2009-05-06T22:31:00.002-06:00

as to my lastest large reason for not blogging now that my long list of household projects is almost all checked off.

My computer died. I mean it really died. It's seen several-times-a-day use for five years, and it has all the symptoms of memory trouble, but my Bookworm King hasn't found a way to make it work without spending a lot of money. And we can't replace it at the moment because we have a baby coming and need our funds for that. SO.... no computer for me means very little time to do anything more than check email and facebook and bloglines. We are completely screen free in our house from the time the King leaves for work until the time he comes home, and then after the kids are in bed, he's usually back to work on his laptop, so I'm having to find new ways to amuse myself.

But since I have a minute - I'll report on what's up:

The King and #2 have taken a large interest in botany and gardening. They have veggies growing in several areas of the yard, and #3 and #4 love to "help." Today, they were all out messing with the compost pile, and when I checked on them, #4 said, "Compost, Mama. Compost." And pointed lest I not understand what the great pile of ever-blackening food and yard waste was. #2 took me on a tour declaring emphatically that "There's LIFE, Mama! LIFE is everywhere! Just look at all the green!" And #3 ran over to report on the TWO HUGE WORMS he had been studying, that were reported as being at least two foot long. That's not a worm, I'm thinking - that's a garden snake. And I hate snakes. But the King was quick to inform me that it really was a worm, but the size was slightly exaggerated. I'm not sure if he was telling the truth or not - if there are snakes in my yard.....

#5 is growing in my ever-widening belly and is swelling up my feet and ankles. I think I have officially reached the cankle stage - there is no difference between my calf and my ankle.

SO as for my list -

the house is mostly finished - some trim to put up and some touchups to do

next years homeschooling is planned and the curriculum is purchased

the freezer is nearly full of meals for the post-baby period

the boys are very excited about meeting their new brother

the King is almost done with his semester at the seminary

and #4's birthday is on Sunday, and that is the last major event before #5's arrival.

So I've blogged a bit. And there are no pictures because they are on my computer. But they exist, yes they do.

March in all it's craziness, part 1

2009-03-28T09:31:00.002-06:00

A trip to a local park with a duck pond. We went with friends to identify and feed the ducks. #4 got close to the water.
Then he got closer to the water. And then....

He had to be fished out of the water. Blessedly, it was a warm day. And we grabbed him before his head went under. And we had a change of clothes in the car. And hand sanitizer. Duck pond. Ew.

He cleaned up quite nicely, see?

This was later that day during a trip to Lowe's for more paint and such. The Home Improvements are on-going.

March in all it's craziness, part 2

2009-03-28T09:23:00.003-06:00

A trip to a different park. At which I managed to get them to pose for a decent picture. Don't they look like three peas in a pod?

#3 climbing higher and higher, and #2 waiting his turn.
#4 flew down the slide. His hair caught up with him at the bottom.

My backyard this morning, March 28, 2009. You'd think this was Michigan instead of Oklahoma. What happened to spring?

Boomtown Bonanza GiveAway

2009-03-05T22:58:00.002-06:00

My friend Marietta over at The Bookworm's Booklist is hosting a giveaway of the book Boomtown by Nowen N. Particular.

The book sounds wonderful - and I hope we win it because I'd love to read it with #2 - and if we don't win it I'm going to have to buy it - even if I have to *gasp* pay FULL PRICE. So, I hope we win - but you should go enter just in case she doesn't draw our name out of her proverbial hat! :)

#3 turns 3

2009-03-05T22:40:00.003-06:00

Feathering my nest....

2009-03-05T22:22:00.003-06:00

I didn't realize that I haven't posted in over a month. I've been working hard to prepare our home for the arrival of #5 - cleaning, organizing, getting school stuff ready for the rest of the year, selling things we don't need, buying things we do need, and creating more space in general.

We have had major renovations to one bathroom and are working on the second one. We've added many cube-shelves to our playroom and we are working on some new habits regarding toy-usage and clean-up time. I've re-organized most of our storage areas and gotten rid of countless things we don't need, want or use. We put up four Rain Gutter Bookshelves and are planning a couple more because they are even more handy than we thought they would be - and they look COOL! All the bookcovers become wall-art. See? Here's one:

My little closet-office has been cleaned out and rearranged so that #2 and I can sit in here for his morning written work. That is working nicely because we've modified our family's routine to include the King playing with #3 and #4 while #2 and I have a little schooltime early in the morning before the King leaves for work. Because #2 is highly distractable, this is working fairly well.

Most importantly, I've spent time with my children - we've worked together and played together and generally enjoyed each other. We've read some good books, spent a lot of time outside, built and shopped and had an all-around good time.

Conversations in the grocery store....

2009-01-30T14:00:00.003-06:00

It's Field Trip Friday, so #2 finished his week's work early this morning and we ran out the door to go meet our homeschool group. We had planned for #4 to stay with Gramma (She's such a blessing to us!), and once we got over there, #3 asked to stay too, so it was just me and #2 for a trip to Reasor's to learn how a grocery store works from the inside out. Sounds like a weird field trip, huh? It was actually pretty cool - they divided us into small groups and took us behind the scenes into the produce storage and the deli preparation area and the bakery and meat packing area. We saw the loading docks and everything, including the inside of a Hiland dairy truck and a Coca-Cola truck. Did you know that the new produce is always at the top and in the back? It really does pay to reach a little farther because it will last longer in your fridge.

After the field trip, #2 and I stopped at Whole Foods, where we greatly amused an elderly lady. She was standing behind us in line at the meat counter, and she was listening to our conversation, which was centered around a tower of canned tomatoes. I called it a pyramid at first, but was corrected. "Mom, this is more like the (step) pyramid we built with Legos than the Egyptian pyramid that we built with Wedgits. It's a ziggurat." The elderly lady behind us giggled and said to her companion, "He must be homeschooled. Those kids are so smart."

Amen. Now go tell that to state Sen. Mary Easley and state Sen. Jim Wilson.

Caution: Treasures are being stolen!

2009-01-26T16:36:00.002-06:00

My kids are playing in the playroom. They really want to go paint, but I'm not sure that I'm up to that kind of mess. So, #2 is building with Wedgits, and #3 and #4 are causing general mayhem with the Little People and Mr. Potato Head, who currently has an arm where his nose goes.

BUT, there is evidence of our current school work in #2's play, and that is so much fun to see. He's built a pyramid, and he's making alarm sounds and saying, "Caution! Treasures are being stolen!" over and over in a voice that would probably be annoying if it weren't so darn cute.

What it made me think about was all those little moments with my children when I let myself get frustrated because I'm not "Accomplishing Anything" (other than childcare). Oh my! There are so many moments that I let my lack of progress on other projects spoil my enjoyment of my sweet boys and their growing and training. Talk about stolen treasures.

In case you were curious....

2009-01-12T17:05:00.001-06:00

Bookworm #5 is, indeed, another boy.

And I've been working hard on my nesting project list - because it's the second trimester - and that's the time for getting things done. :)

Since we're working on our home...

2008-12-30T09:37:00.003-06:00

I told you we're working hard. No major construction. Just

Throwing away.
Putting away.
Cleaning.
Organizing.
Making space.

Because we're fitting in a sixth person in just a few months.

And I'd like to do a bit of redecorating. We're lived here for nearly seven years, and we haven't changed a thing - which means that my artificial flowers on top of the bookcare are faded - or maybe just covered with an inch of dust.

ANYWAY - Jenny at Life is not a Cereal posted a link to a photo quiz at mydeco.com, and I took it just for fun. It told me that I have a decorating style that I'd never heard of - but apparently it's pretty popular. It suits us to a T, so if you've wondered what thread is holding the furniture and paint colors in Bookwormsville together, you can read on:

FAMILY MODERN

Your home confidently embraces the many needs of busy, family life. It's adaptable and easy to live with, reflecting your sense of style without having to banish the kids to the attic or basement. You're sensitive to elements of design such as colour, light and architectural detail, mixing items that are relatively disposable with other pieces that, in time, will become family heirlooms.

Living Room

You have a comfortably contemporary living room. The danger with the 'modern look' is that it too easily falls into the realm of the bland and insipid; 'easy' gets confused with 'careless' and the result is just downright dull! Perhaps of all the rooms in our homes, the living room can be the one that most expresses your sense of style and your interests. Think, too, about how and when you will most use the room. For example, do you want it light and airy or warm and cosy? The occasional, totemic accessory -- whether it's a Noguchi table or a Jasper Morrison mirror -- certainly ticks the right boxes but can alienate visitors, if not the rest of your household. Earthy (but not muddy!) colours work well in both rural and urban settings, while tactile finishes and soft furnishings cry out for company. At the end of a long day, there's nothing nicer than spending some quality time with the family: no wonder your living room's the place everyone gravitates to.

Bedroom

It's a man's world in the master bedroom. Sleep is fundamentally important to our well being. In busy towns and cities, noise can often hamper a good night's sleep. Soft furnishings really do absorb sound, and touch is such an important sense in the bedroom, from crisp, linen sheets to wool or even sheepskin underfoot. You have quite a masculine - some might say hard - style in your bedroom, using earthy, rustic colours and textures to create a sense of harmony with the natural world.

Dining Room

You're a maestro of minimalism using carefully chosen ingredients. At home, 'less-is-more' simplicity appears effortlessly stylish. With so little on show, every single item comes under scrutiny, so it's important that you give time and thought to your choice of china, glass and cutlery. Try to avoid the 'designer cliche' trap, whereby every single piece has impeccable provenance: at best this looks like showing off, at worst it's sadly predictable. When it comes to entertaining, children usually take centre-stage.

Home Office

A little of what you fancy does you good -- even when you're working. Working from home is an increasingly popular solution to the challenge of bringing up a young family and making ends meet. A dedicated home office - even if it's just the corner of a room - will help keep you focused and separate work from hectic family life. Your innate sense of style will probably lead you to creating a work space that's as individual as the rest of your home. Just bear in mind basic ergonomic principles, especially when choosing a desk and chair.

Kids' Room

Let a child's room reflect his or her personality -- not yours! If you have the space for a designated playroom, great. If not, then giving your kids the biggest bedroom can be a smart move, certainly once they're past the toddler stage: it gives them a designated space to play, enabling you to keep the rest of your home more, rather than less, how it used to be. Cheap and cheerful is ideal when it comes to most things in children's rooms: not only do kids grow fast, they also grow out of fads and phases at an amazing rate.

Conclusion

Your home is the hub of family life. It's unpretentious without being devoid of character: in fact, with so much going on, it's open to all the pleasures of life.

We've been cleaning...

2008-12-26T23:03:00.002-06:00

Isn't that what you do when you have a day off? The boys played with their Christmas loot, and the King and I cleaned our bedroom. He hasn't had any real free time since September, when his seminary semester started. Since then, we've been putting assorted items that needed to be inaccessible for the kids into various nooks and crannies of our bedroom. It had gotten completely out of control.

So, we cleaned it. We are brainstorming new furniture arrangements that will give us both a crib in our room (necessary until at least next Christmas) and access to the bookshelves that are currently blocked by the crib. But first, we had to deal with piles of paper that needed filing (need new bill-paying and filing system here), bits of paper that needed trashing, stray toys and socks, clean laundry, and other assorted junk. We threw away one large and two small garbage bags.

I need to tackle the linen closet and my closet - and he needs to tackle his closet. He has books to deal with, and I need to deal with a plethora of baby and kid clothes (could probably cut the collection by half). We have stuff that just needs to go away (like the three game systems that we have and don't use because we don't have a TV).

And the garage. Oh, the garage.

I think the nesting for this pregnancy has officially begun. I have a serious need for a Clean Sweep.

Merry Christmas from the Bookworms!

2008-12-24T08:54:00.002-06:00

And God bless us, every one!

Merry Christmas Adam!

2008-12-23T15:34:00.004-06:00

(Because it's the day before Christmas Eve - HT to Tonya, who has amused me with that every single year for the past nine years.)

The fruits of our labor:

Seven loaves of Banana Chocolate Chip Bread
Nine loaves and three mini-loaves of Pumpkin Cranberry Bread
and four loaves and three mini-loaves of Strawberry Bread

Most of which will be given away to family members in the next forty-eight hours.

There were a couple of Pumpkin Cranberry Uglies. That was fine with us because there are extras. So, we'll be eating the Uglies for Christmas Eve and Christmas breakfast. It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it.

And, in case you are curious, YES, it is quite tasty. Look at the damage my boys and UncaBilly did to an extra loaf of Banana Chocolate Chip at snacktime.

UncaBilly brought the best Christmas present.

2008-12-17T10:23:00.003-06:00

Here's UncaBilly. He's here for two whole weeks and my little Bookworms are so excited!

He brought quite a treat. They've gotten 6-8 inches of snow in Boulder this week. So UncaBilly and Stasia came with a truckbed full of SNOW! (Real snow. Colorado snow. Not that icy stuff we get here in Oklahoma.) And how did they thank him?
Boy style - with a face full of snow. They had a snowball fight in my mom's driveway. What a Christmas present! They are the only boys in our area of Oklahoma who got to have a snowball fight yesterday.

And where was #4? He was staying warm inside the house and flirting with Stasia.

Making Memories with Mimi

2008-12-17T10:17:00.003-06:00

Mimi took the King and #2 ice skating at a little outdoor rink last week. They had a lovely time.

#3 tried it, but he was just not quite ready.

Bookworm#2’s Twelve Days of Christmas (composed by himself)

2008-12-12T11:19:00.000-06:00

On the first day of Christmas, my grandma fed to me
a giant broccoli tree.
On the second day of Christmas, my grandma fed to me
two asparagus...
On the third day of Christmas, my grandma fed to me
three steamed potatoes...
On the fourth day of Christmas, my grandma fed to me !
four orange carrots...
On the fifth day of Christmas, my grandma fed to me
a big bowl of mac and cheese....
On the sixth day of Christmas, my grandma fed to me
six chicken nuggets, ...
On the seventh day of Christmas, my grandma fed to me
seven schoolhouse cookies, ...
On the eighth day of Christmas, my grandma fed to me
eight big yam rolls, ...
On the ninth day of Christmas, my grandma fed to me
nine peeled apples, ...
On the tenth day of Christmas, my grandma fed to me
ten green beans, ...
On the eleventh day of Christmas, my grandma fed to me
eleven ice cream bars
On the tweflth day of Christmas, my grandma fed to me
twelve pumpkin pies...

Guess who we had lunch with!

2008-12-04T10:09:00.004-06:00

We made a quick trip to Muskogee yesterday to visit my extremely ill grandmother and her roommate, my great-aunt Virgie - her sister. We stopped at a McDonalds on the way home and were surprised to be greeted by Ronald himself. We really enjoyed watching him answer the drive-thru window. People were shocked to have Ronald hand them their food. It made an otherwise difficult trip much easier. The picture is courtesy of the King's iPhone, so it isn't the greatest, but at least we got one.

Mission accomplished.

2008-11-28T21:52:00.002-06:00

This morning, I woke up at 4am. Because I was supposed to pick up Worldlighter at 6. And I was afraid that the alarm going off at 5:15 would wake up the whole house. It turned out that I should have just left myself sleep because #4 woke up at 5am and was right chipper.The King was not. And the boys were still sleeping. So #4 went with me. Because I'm nice like that.

So, we picked up Worldlighter, and we shopped until we got hungry, and then we ate. And then we shopped some more. That's how two pregnant women do things. We got home about 3pm after visiting Walmart, Panera Bread, JcPenney's, The Children's Place, Sears, Motherhood, Target, Panera Bread again, Michael's, Hobby Lobby, Sam's, Borders, and Walmart again. I wore #4 in the Ergo from 6am-9:30am, and then I brought him back home to the King and #2 and #3 because I just couldn't wear him any longer. He was a sweet little guy, though - shopping in his fuzzy pajamas quite happily on my back. (I think my sweet hubby owes me a neck and shoulder massage for those extra hours of sleep I let him have, don't you think?)

We met our goal, though. All of the Christmas shopping is done. Mission accomplished.

When Pigasso met Mottisse by Nina Laden

2008-11-26T20:41:00.002-06:00

Tonight, we read When Pigasso Met Mootisse together as a family as part of the nighttime reading. I picked it up from the library last week (they do have other copies in my local system.

The King and I loved the book - the pictures are fantastic, and the actual Picassos and Matisses that are depicted in pigs and cows are hysterical. There is a decent presentation of modern art including biographies of Picasso and Matisse in the back (did you know that they really were friends?), and also a stong nod to the concept that we have to choose to get along with people who are have different ideas than we do.

Bookworm #2 liked the book because "One time Pigasso and Mootisse met and became good friends. then they got mad and said, "You paint like a wild beast!" and "You paint like a two-year-old!" And then things were not really funny until they started being friends again."

Quotes from Pocketfull of Pinecones

2008-11-23T08:31:00.002-06:00

Karen Andreola, the author of A Charlotte Mason Companion, also wrote Pocketfull of Pinecones, a lovely book about a mom and her two children who embark on a homeschool journey during the 1930s. The book includes story after story of their adventures with the intent of showing us how to apply Charlotte Mason's educational ideals in our homes. It's a fantastic read for any parent who wants to teach their children to appreciate nature, and it is available in my local library system, so it might be in yours too.

There are some lovely jewels in this book - and I'm going to jot some of them down here because I don't have time to blog each of them individually - though each is certainly worthy of it's own post.

p75 - "My students have a lifetime ahead of them in which to observe and discover - to become self-educated in their leisure, so to speak. My job is to allow their feet to walk the paths of wonder, to see that they form relations to various things, so that when the habit is formed, they will carry an appreciation for nature with them throught their lives."

p81 - "My devotions give the day its energy. I may skip writing in this diary but I try not to skip my time with Him who cares for me. It is proof that I remember Him, depend on his mercy, which is so thankfully new every morning. It is the evidence that I trust Him. it is because my days are so busy that I have kept myself from yielding to the God-can-wait syndrome. I need my heavenly Father and so I seek Him early. Prayers are the wings of the soul. They bear the Christian far from Earth, out of its cares, its woe, and its perplexities, into glorious serenity."

p145 - "To get good grades in school is the motivation used in a system of education where children are constatly quizzed and tested. Here at home we are following a method of education - we are not participating in a system. It's been such a freeing way to teach. I've aimed at learning for the sake of knowledge and not for grades or prizes. Miss Mason recommends that children gain knowledge in three areas: knowledge of God (Bible), knowledge of man (history/humanities), and knowledge of the universe (science/math). Keeping these three areas in mind has helped me in my efforts to be a more orderly sort of person and to cover what is essential to know."

Well, that's a nice surprise!

2008-11-17T22:19:00.002-06:00

I've been sick - pregnant sick - cookie-tossing kind of sick - for about three weeks. I thought I was only eight weeks pregnant. And the thought of there being five more weeks in the first trimester was almost too much for me. The nausea usually doesn't go away until about halfway through week thirteen.

However, today, I had a ultrasound and learned that I'm really about halfway through week eleven already! So the magic week thirteen is only two weeks away! instead of five! Hallelujah!

I need Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.

2008-11-12T22:56:00.003-06:00

We recently read Betty MacDonald's Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle as a bedtime read-aloud, and #2 loved it.. Each chapter is a story of a family that is dealing with a particular character flaw in one or more children. The only problem with the book was that it was almost too funny for bedtime - once #2 had The Giggles, they spread until #3 and #4 were no longer calm and ready for sleep.

My favorite chapter was "The Radish Cure," which dealt with the desire to throw a fit at bathtime (not a problem in my house, but that's probably what made it quite so funny to me). Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle suggested that the parents just let the kid get dirty until the layer of dirt was thick enough to plant radish seeds while the kid slept. The morning that the little girl in question sprouted radishes, she decided to take a bath - and after that, bathtime was fun again.

So, from a homeschooling/parenting standpoint, I'm wondering how I can and if I should incorporate Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle casually into habit-training and character education. It's an interesting idea. We've started reading another Mrs. P-W volume that has a couple of kids with problems that we have in this house, so maybe I'll give it a try.

As a desperate mom, I need Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle (or someone who, you know, exists) to give me an idea for how to stop the flow of whine around here. #2 is whining about every single instruction that he's given, and it's about to drive this mama 'round the bend. And now I'm whining about the whining - but really, folks, I just need an idea.

WFMW Toy Edition: Wedgits - a fantastic building toy.

2008-11-05T07:30:00.004-06:00

We bought Wedgits last year for #2 to play with. The starter set was such a hit that we bought several other sets for Christmas, including the nifty car set, of which I have no pictures. Wedgits are square blocks that lock together to make cool creations. These two were built straight out of #2's imagination. We did buy a set of design cards that shows different ways to use the blocks - and that was actually a good purchase because the creators of Wedgits are smarter than DH and I and came up with more ways to use them than we could. Wedgits have brought us hours and hours of entertainment.

You can buy them from many, many places - we ordered from Rainbow Resource. I'll let you search and hunt for your own. Find more good toy ideas at Rocks in my Dryer.

A daring adventure....

2008-11-02T20:57:00.002-06:00

There's a Helen Keller quote that I love. She says, "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure."

I agree with her. She doesn't mention that security is found in realizing that God is sovereign or that the children of God can experience security only because of Him.

We've accidentally embraced this quote. Bookworm #1 taught us that God is good, all the time, but he also taught us that no matter how stable we try to make our life, nothing is secure except for the character of God. With each baby that follows, the only security that we have is a word from God that all of our other children will be healthy. And each one has been.

And now we've got Bookworm #5 on the way - arriving in mid-late June. Which means that next summer, we'll continue serving Christ by raising the children He has entrusted to our care: three children under the age of four and a seven-year old.

If that isn't a daring adventure, I don't know what is.

Saturday in Boulder - the afternoon

2008-09-27T18:21:00.003-06:00

The Town Hall in the quaint mountain hamlet of Nederland, CO.

Mountains near Nederland.

A close-up of an Aspen tree near Nederland, CO.

A puffy cloud that looks like whipped cream on this mountain near Nederland, CO.

Municipal parking in Nederland, CO.

A real, live steam shovel, just like Mary Anne in the Mike Mulligan book.

Now, we've rested a bit, and we've played a game of Croquet in the yard. (UncaBilly won. CrazySheryl was second. Stasia was third. I was fourth. And Gramma... well, Gramma finished, yes she did. And that's what counts.)

Dinner is under construction. And it's going to be so fantastic that more pictures may follow.

Saturday in Boulder - the morning

2008-09-27T18:01:00.002-06:00

We got up and went to the Farmer's Market. It was great fun, and it was more fantastic than the market in Champaign - and it makes the Cherry System Market seem like a joke. Here are some pictures. We bought some yummies with which to make a tasty dinner. Which we haven't had yet, but that will be another post.

Leaving on a jet plane - for my little Bookworms

2008-09-26T08:31:00.003-06:00

OK, my sweet #2, I really enjoyed describing to you what I saw as I walked through the airport, so I thought I'd tell you what I did after we had to hang up so I could board the plane.

They put a jet-way - kind of a folding hallway - from the airport to the plane so that you can walk from one to the other. When it hooks up to the plane, it makes a funny, slurpy sound. You would have been amused and really would have liked seeing it extend to the plane. Did you know that planes are really big upclose? This one was bigger than Daddy's office building.

I stood in line to get on the plane. I was in the fourth group to board, so by the time I got on all the aisle and window seats were taken. I sat between two strangers. That felt funny to me, and I'm hoping that I can get an aisle or window seat on the next flight.

After everyone was seated with their seatbelts fastened, the flight attendents showed us all how to use the seatbelts and what to do in an emergency. I put my iPod headphones in my ears and got settled for the ride. I got out an article to read and a pen to mark it with and some paper so I could jot down the little things I wanted to tell you.

The plane drove down the taxi-way like our van drives on the road - only without bumps and stoplights. When we reached the runway, the pilot made a sharp turn and lined up with the lines painted on the runway so that we could take off. When the people in the tower told him it was his turn, we zoomed down the runway. The engines rushed loudly. You would have covered your ears. I was thankful for the earphones that dulled my hearing. As the plane started to go up, it tilted so that I had to lean back in my seat. Once we reached the right altitude, it leveled out so that I could move a tiny bit - at least I could lean forward to read and write.

Because the flight was so short (only one hour to Kansas City - as Daddy to show you on a map), no one was to be moving around the cabin except for the flight attendents - unless they had to go potty - and I don't like pottying on an airplane, so I avoided that. A flight attendent with a very wide, white smile came by and offered each of us "orange juice or coffee?" Since I had just thoroughly enjoyed my Cinnamon Dolce Latte, I said, "No, thank you." The man next to me had some orange juice. By the time the attendent came back by, I had finished my coffee and was ready to throw away my cup when she opened her little trash sack and offered, "Take your trash?"

Then the plane began to descend. My ears popped several times, and they are still a little sore. During the descent, there are moments where I felt almost weightless, like I was floating. I was sitting just behind the wings, so I could see the flaps coming down to slow the plane just like brakes slow our van, but not so quickly. We slowly went down, down, down, and then BUMP! We were on the runway, slowing rapidly. The engines roared as they reversed to stop the big metal plane. Quickly, the plane returned to a regular driving speed and pulled up to the gate. After a few minutes, everyone began to stand and retrieve their stuff. The jetway was hooked up, and we got off the plane.

Then I checked the gate for my connecting flight and bought a bottle of water. I was thrilled to discover that this airport has comfy chairs with electrical outlets built in and free wi-fi access. That way I can tell you all about it.

Here are some pictures from the airport in Kansas City.

\

(For the other two readers I have, I'm visiting UncaBilly and Stasia in Boulder this weekend, so you can expect some randomness as I share news with my boys.)

Minor details.

2008-09-26T08:25:00.002-06:00

Occasionally, I miss having a TV.

Yesterday, all day, I kept thinking, "There's a new ER tonight!" And then 9pm rolled around ...

and I couldn't find the TV. (Imagine that. It's been gone for over two months.)

So I had to settle for watching an old (but new-to-me) episode on the 'net.

But if someone would like to tell me who they offed last night, I'm curious.

My Thirty-Second Birthday

2008-09-22T20:47:00.003-06:00

My day was terrible.

I spent two and a half hours waiting for my new radio to be installed in my van - a job that was supposed to take 20 minutes. The boys were extremely well-behaved (praise God), so that I was actually surprised to see that much time had passed. But it turned out that the 20 minute job took 30 minutes, and they had looked up my home number to call me instead of calling the cell number I gave them, and my car had been ready for hours. It turned out that my radio shorted out because someone put a penny in the cigarette lighter. You can bet it wasn't me.

We left the dealership with barely enough time to get to my dentist appointment because I had a sore tooth. Well, it would have been plenty of time except that I had to stop and pick up a pizza and take it and the boys to the King's office while I went to the dentist. Blessedly, I thought to grab a slice of it to eat while I drove otherwise, I'd have been really hungry.

Because I got to the dentist and learned that I cracked one of the two baby teeth that I still have because there weren't any permanent teeth behind them. And the only real option was to remove it. So, now I have a hole in my mouth and an appointment to get see about getting an implant. But since that costs $3000, I may just have a hole for a while and hope Jesus comes back in the next 10 years before having a hole starts causing me problems. By the way, I was on a soft diet for the rest of the day, and none of the leftovers in my fridge met that description. In my frustration, I told the King that I don't want to go out to dinner.

Then I brought the boys home to play in the backyard, and #2 had a sassy mouth - and since today is not the day to bother Mommy, he got several sets of swats for it before he got the picture.

I tried to call (failed) and then emailed the King to tell him that I still wanted to go out to dinner because we don't have anything in the house that doesn't require chewing and my jaw (TMJ) is killing me. Our favorite cheap Mexican restaurant sounded pretty terrific. I knew I could swallow some refritos and rice.

Then #3 told me his tummy hurt, so I put him on the potty, but he wouldn't stay up there. Three minutes later he pooped in his underwear and dripped it through three rooms on the way to tell me about it.

The King never answered the email, so I made dinner for the boys.

When all the poo was cleaned up and the boys were ready for bed. We're packed them up and picked up a Mexican dinner for us - a very cheap date at home, but a date none the less. And, since it's my birthday, he also bought me a piece of tiramisu. And the only reason I shared was because I was stuffed. It was really tasty. There was so much cinnamon-y whipped cream around it that I saved a dollop or two to put in my coffee in the morning.

You know what's funny (now that the day is almost over)? This isn't the worst birthday I've ever had. There were all sorts of problems in the day, but everyone is healthy and relatively happy. All my children were fairly well-behaved until they started breaking down after 4pm. My husband still loves me. And God is good, all the time - even when the poo just put the day over the top - eh, it was OK. I'll live to parent another day. For tonight, though, I'm glad this day is done. I'll fold my laundry, throw some chicken in the crock pot to slow-roast, take my vitamins and some Motrin and go to bed, where I plan to sleep like a rock until daylight.

Because tomorrow is a new day with new blessings. Praise God!

Narration of Charlotte Mason's original works: Volume 5, Section 5

2008-09-14T21:54:00.002-06:00

5. Consequences

I'm about to give you my summary of this section. Some important quotes follow. And if you want to read the whole article, you can click on the heading, because it will take you right to it.

The arbitrary exercise of parental authority can be a stumbling block for a child. The word arbitrary indicates unreasonable or inconsistent authority. We know from countless modern parenting books that children respond best to consistency, and that a hint of reason is nice, too. Children find arbitrary parenting to be exasperating. They need a loving consistent parent who considers carefully her responses to any and all behavior, be it good or undesirable. Parents must be constantly seeking divine wisdom and grace to continue to be able to respond to their children in an appropriate manner, exercising the God-given authority they operate in without overstepping the bounds and becoming tyrannical. Charlotte reminds us that any one of us is capable of reacting to a child in a way that can harm him in body or spirit. It would be much, much easier to just let the child go his own way. Yet it is the parent's job to teach and train him with prayer and great diligence and wise choices on the parents' side if he is to grow into a man of great character. A parent must keep his own natural desire for power in check and instead exercise godly authority over his child, responding to the child with gentle speech, consideration, and fairness.

How I'm to do that, I don't know exactly. I do my best in this area, and I'm sure there is much room for improvement.

"The arbitrary exercise of authority on the part of parent, nurse, governess, whoever is set in authority over him, is the real stone of stumbling and rock of offence in the way of many a child" (pg. 70).

"But let us look ourselves in the face; let us recognise that the principle which has betrayed others into the madness of crime is inherent in us also, and that whether it shall lead us to heights of noble living or to criminal cruelty is not a matter to be left to the chapter of accidents. We have need of the divine grace to prevent and follow us, and we have need to seek consciously, and diligently use this grace to keep us who are in authority in the spirit of meekness, remembering always that the One who is entrusted with the rod of iron is meek and lowly of heart" (pg. 72-73).

"It is no doubt much easier to lay down our authority and let the children follow their own lead, or be kept in order by another, than to exercise constant watchfulness in the exercise of our calling. But this is not in our option; we must rule with diligence. It is necessary for the children that we should; but we must keep ourselves continually in check, and see that our innate love of power finds lawful outlet in the building up of a child's character, and not in the rude rebuff, the jibe and sneer, the short answer and hasty slap which none of us older people could conceivably endure ourselves, and yet practise freely on the children 'for their good'" (pg. 73-74).

"We are, in truth, between Scylla and Charybdis: on this side, the six-headed, many-toothed monster of our own unbridled love of power; on that, the whirlpool which would engulf the manly virtues of our poor little Ulysses. If we must choose, let it be Scylla rather than Charybdis; better lose something through the monster with the teeth, than lose ourselves in the whirlpool. But is there not a better way?" (pg. 76).

"Refrain thee; see thy speech be sweet and rare:
Thy ways, considered; and thine aspect, fair" (pg. 76).

Today and the never-ending To Do list.

2008-09-13T06:12:00.003-06:00

It's Saturday. But next week we have to be out of the house all day three times - so today's a school day. We put our ant farm together last night, so the boys are studying it anyway. I think we'll have a science day today and do history next week. Sound like a plan? I have a Magic School Bus episode cued up and an ant lapbook printed off and some books pulled from our shelves. When the sun comes up and the library opens, maybe we'll go hunt some more books.

Later - obviously - #2 still needs to do a bit of math and some narration and we need to read our Aesop for today (The Ant and the Grasshopper), and the babies are sleeping and the beginning of the Hurricane rains have reached our area.

I need to go run the dishwasher and such.
I think we're having hot dogs for dinner with fruit and French fries.
I must finish the menu for next week and print the calendar for next week and try to invent meals that use up what's in my pantry.
I need to make chili to take to our small group tomorrow afternoon
I need to update the financial spreadsheet that we use to keep track of how we spend our money.
I want to buy a lapbook at Live and Learn Press - the Spanish vocabulary review one. I need to make a decision on that and do it if I'm going to. It would be nice to have it to use.
I need to cancel some subscriptions
I want to start a subscription to Kinderbach so that I don't have to teach piano. We've done the first five lessons and my kids like it.
The King and I need to have our quarterly financial visit and make a plan to get some things taken care of.
I need to refer to the phonics book and see what things I need to be watching for in #2's reading in the near future. I want to re-read the section in Real Learning that talks about creating a word bank. I also want to read Charlotte on teaching reading again.
I need to read "Consequences" from Charlotte Mason's Formation of Character before the local Charlotte Mason Discussion Group meets on Monday evening. So there may be a post on that coming in the near future.
I need to write and mail a fundraising letter for The Little Light House and get us registered for Laps for Little Ones.
I need to finish planning school for the week.

OK - there's the list. Let's see how much I can get done.

We've been busy

2008-09-12T22:46:00.004-06:00

This was today. We went on a hike with some friends. Bookworm #2 thoroughly enjoyed the tramp. Bookworm #3 needed to be carried the last half-mile. Bookworm #4 stayed with Gramma (Thanks, Mom!), and that was good because I really couldn't have carried both #3 and #4.

Last week, this was the science experiment. #2 enjoyed setting it up and watching the celery change color over a matter of hours

This was our lesson in making rice and black beans. It was really yummy. Which was good. Because we'll be eating it for the next month because things expanded much more than I expected.

This is how we clean the floor after the ornery baby dumps his plate. I asked #2 to get the Shark sweeper and sweep it up. But they decided to be the vacuums because they wanted more pizza and strawberries. Gross. But I let them. Because I wasn't going to be able to stop them unless I threw myself over the pizza bites. And I certainly wasn't going to do that. If they like pizza this much now, what will they do for it when they are teenagers?

See #4 in the bucket? Apparently, baby cell phones work best in a blue tub with wheels because he keeps taking all his calls in this location.

This was last week's park day. #2 and #3 explored this buggy marsh area and tried to catch a dragonfly, which buzzed them and scared their ba-jeebers right out.

These are our new pets - and our science and nature study for the next few weeks. I'm hoping my pyrex dish and the water moat will prevent my kitchen from infestation. I hope. I really hope.

200th post

2008-08-26T22:11:00.002-06:00

I could have come up with something really awesome for my 200th post. But did I?

No.

Why not? Well, if you really must know, it was because I was WASTING TIME this evening and I didn't know that it would be my 200th post (because I don't pay attention to such things). I can't even say that it's because it's the Bookworm King's birthday and I was hanging out with him - though he is right here next to me, fingers blazing on his own keyboard, working on stuff for a seminary class that he has tomorrow afternoon - Happy Birthday, Honey. I was truly wasting time ... being a bookworm.

I was going through the new arrivals at BookCloseOuts and putting anything that we'd love to have (and don't already own) in my cart just to see what the total would be. I don't have the money for all of the things I picked. I went through Children's Fiction and Children's Nonfiction new releases - and that was all.

But I broke my shopping cart. Now it won't load. So, I've wasted time, and now I don't have the list of things I would order if I could - but I can't, so I won't.

And NOW I'm wasting YOUR time with this ridiculous 200th post, so I think I'll stop. May the next 200 be more worthy of your attention.

Relaxed foreign language education

2008-08-21T22:03:00.002-06:00

We've been studying Spanish very informally around here. I have been refreshing my memory - in my pre-mom life, I got a bachelor's degree in Spanish, so it's in there somewhere. The Bookworm King speaks some, but not a lot. But we want to teach this to our kids.

While Rosetta Stone's Latin American Spanish is on our wishlist, it is Price-y. We must save many pennies.

So, in the meantime, we are doing what we can. We have both the English version and Spanish translations of our boys' favorite children's books, like Good Night, Moon and The Runaway Bunny, and we want to get more of them - and we will as time flies by. We also have Flip Flop Spanish 1 and the Twin Sisters Productions Spanish Songs on mp3. And these are delightful. The Spanish Songs have a delightful beat and are actually sung over and over. The Flip Flop lessons are simple and short.

We keep the audio files for the past three Flip Flop lessons and two of the Spanish songs (one new, one review) in the Schoolwork playlist on our iPod (along with the current hymn, folk song, composer sample, and some things like "I'm a Little TeaPot" that my toddler does need to recognize and I forget to sing to him. Since we have to drive about 20 minutes to get anywhere we go, we listen to the playlist once a day. We occasionally review vocabulary: counting goldfish in Spanish, naming colors in the room, etc.

You all, you should have see the shock on my mom's face when (2 year old) #3 ran up to hug her and said, "Hi Gramma! Como estas?"

Totally cracked me up.

All by himself....

2008-08-21T22:01:00.000-06:00

Tonight, #2 was in my lap after I'd read to him (all 70 pounds of him was curled up on me), and he said, "Mama, I have a secret."
"Can I know it, or is it your secret?"
He said, "Sometimes I read all by myself."
I said, "I know, Bear. I've seen you. That's pretty cool."
"Will you read me one more story, even though I can read?"
"Yes...

Narration of Charlotte Mason's original works: Volume 5, Section 4

2008-08-17T15:31:00.005-06:00

4. Dorothy Elmore's Achievement (in 5 chapters)

In a Nutshell: My Summary
Don't focus on the ugly things of life. Exercise your Will to change your thoughts instead.

My Narration:
Chapter 1
Dorothy Elmore arrives home from school to the delight of her adoring family. She has been gone for two years, and they are all thrilled at her return. She is a beautiful, intelligent, graceful, well-mannered young lady. She is admired by her siblings, and is quite the leader of the family: "...Wherever Dorothy ran––no, she went with a quick noiseless step, but never ran––about the house to find out the old dear nooks, we all followed, a troop of children with their mother in the rear; their father too, if he happened to be in. Truly we were a ridiculous family, and did our best to turn the child's head. Every much has its more-so. Dorothy's two special partisans were Elsie, our girl of fifteen years, fast treading in her sister's steps, and Herbert, our eldest son, soon to go to college. Elsie would come to my room and discourse by the hour, her text being ever, "Dorothy says." And as for Herbs, it was pleasant to see his budding manhood express itself in all sorts of little attentions to his lovely sister" (vol. V, pg. 42-43)

Chapter 2
A month passes - in that month, Dorothy has her own way in everything. There are no disappointments to speak of, and she is consistently pleasant to be with. But then, one day she can't use the family carriage when she would like to, and she gets in a snit about it - she gets all pale and limp. Today, we'd say that she's depressed. And in Christian circles, her selfishness and self-pity would probably be whispered about and never pointed out to her. But her mother senses that something is amiss in Dorothy's heart. A doctor is called, and he prescribes good nutrition and exercise and rest for Dorothy, and the family works to see that it happens. Dorothy is again the center of their attention and sees that they all love her dearly.
" The doctor came; said she wanted tone; advised, not physic, but fresh air, exercise, and early hours. So we all laid ourselves out to obey his directions that day, but with no success to speak of. But the next was one of those glorious February days when every twig is holding itself stiffly in the pride of coming leafage, and the snowdrops in the garden beds lift dainty heads out of the brown earth. The joy of the spring did it. We found her in the breakfast-room, snowdrops at her throat, rosy, beaming, joyous; a greeting, sweet and tender, for each; and never had we known her talk so sparkling, her air so full of dainty freshness. There was no relapse after this sudden cure" (Vol. V, pg. 47).

She comes out of her funk for five weeks before another disappointment sends her into another funk.

Chapter 3
"To make a long story short, this sort of thing went on, at longer or shorter intervals, through all that winter and summer and winter again" (Vol. V pg. 48). Her siblings noticed the pattern before her parents did, and her mother says to her father, "remember how perfectly well and happy she is between these fits of depression?... Each attack of what we hav ecalled 'poorliness' has been a fit of sullenness, lasting sometimes for days, sometimes for more than a week, and passing off as suddenly as it came" (pg. 49-50). At this point in the story, we learn that Mom Elmore knows this behavior of Dorothy's well because she has battled it herself. Dorothy is dwelling on things that didn't go her way and resenting those who did not bow to her desires. We learn that Mom had these same habits until she was finally cured of them by motherhood. Once she was no longer focused on her Self and constantly thinking about how the world wasn't fair to her, she was able to stop having such sulky fits. Dad wants to talk with a doctor-friend of his about the situation before they discuss things with Dorothy.

Chapter 4
"Now, every fault of disposition and temper, though it may have begun in error of the spirit in ourselves or in some ancestor, by the time it becomes a fault of character is a failing of the flesh, and is to be dealt with as such––that is, by appropriate treatment. Observe, I am not speaking of occasional and sudden temptations and falls, or of as sudden impulses towards good, and the reaching of heights undreamed of before. These things are of the spiritual world, and are to be spiritually discerned. But the failing or the virtue which has become habitual to us is flesh of our flesh, and must be treated on that basis whether it is to be uprooted or fostered" (pg. 59). The doctor explains to Mom and Dad that Dorothy has been allowing herself to dwell on the wrong things - offenses, disappointments, what-have-you - until that has become her habit. Now she is thinking about those things for extended periods of time without realizing it, and that is causing her black moods. He tells them that he thinks he has a cure for the problem, and that she'll be her old self within a few months, but he needs to speak to her first.
The cure: "Ignore the sullen humours; let gay life go on as if she was not there, only drawing her into it now and then by an appeal for her opinion, or for her laugh at a joke. Above all, when good manners compel her to look up, let her meet unclouded eyes, full of pleasure in her; for, believe, whatever cause of offence she gives to you, she is far more deeply offensive to herself. And you should do this all the more because, poor girl, the brunt of the battle will fall upon her" (pg. 61).

If they had dealt with the matter long ago, they would have "never have allowed the habit of this sort of feeling to be set up. You should have been on the watch for the outward signs––the same then as now, some degree of pallor, with general limpness of attitude, and more or less dropping of the lips and eyes. The moment one such sign appeared, you should have been at hand to seize the child out of the cloud she was entering, and to let her bask for an hour or two in love and light, forcing her to meet you eye to eye, and to find love and gaiety in yours. Every sullen attack averted is so much against setting up the habit; and habit, as you know, is a chief factor in character"(pg. 61-62).

Chapter 5
The doctor talks to Dorothy, telling her this: "When ill thoughts begin to molest you, turn away your mind with a vigorous turn, and think of something else. I don't mean think good forgiving thoughts, perhaps you are not ready for that yet; but think of something interesting and pleasant; the new dress you must plan, the friend you like best, the book you are reading; best of all, fill heart and mind suddenly with some capital plan for giving pleasure to some poor body whose days are dull. The more exciting the thing you think of, the safer you are. Never mind about fighting the evil thought. This is the one thing you have to do; for this is, perhaps, the sole power the will has. It enables you to change your thoughts; to turn yourself round from gloomy thoughts to cheerful ones. Then you will find that your prayers will be answered, for you will know what to ask for, and will not turn your back on the answer when it comes" (pg. 66).

Weird sleeping arrangements

2008-08-15T21:24:00.003-06:00

I just thought I'd tell you that all of my children do have beds. Several of them have more than one.

However, they all prefer to sleep in the same room. And #2 and #3 prefer their Cars blow-up beds to their real mattresses and bedstands. It must be something about Lightning McQueen. I don't know.

But in spite of our having another bedroom with loft-style bunks in it and this little nursery having a comfy twin bed in it, they prefer the floor.

I don't understand it. But maybe, when I was six or when I was two, I would have.

So, for the moment, we're going with it. As long as they stay on their respective beds and s.l.e.e.p. (preferably all night long), it's fine with me.

Expeditionary Learning

2008-08-15T21:07:00.005-06:00

Today was the first day of public school in our neck of the woods - so, being the rebels we are, we took the day off (as much as a homeschooler ever does) and went out to play. We went on an expedition to a far-away-but-still-local park and had a fantastic time exploring and learning on the playground.

My brother is doing his internship for his Master's program (we're rather proud of him), and said internship takes place in a school near his university that focuses on "expeditionary learning." Know what that is? Most homeschoolers do. It's a fancy term for "unit study" - the use of one topic across many or all areas of study. We are rather fond of unit studies here - they just seem to happen - so I'll just tell you that we are glad to know that we're riding the crest of the education tidal wave.

ANYWAY... Today, we went to the park. We talked about all kinds of things:
Like nutrition

telling time,
How a backhoe works
balancing a scale
the importance of focusing on what you are doing:
pendulums,

gravity - and whether the heaviest or the lightest slides the fastest
and centrifugal force.

And that was our day at the park.

I'm tired.

And so are my children:

Fastest Chef in the ... well, in this kitchen

2008-08-14T06:04:00.004-06:00

We had a lovely day today. Bookworm #2 was invited to an event with Mimi, so he was off with her for much of the day. #3 and #4 and I went to Target with Gramma. That was great fun. There was actually time to look at things and not just throw necessities in the cart and sprint for the registers.

We had a nice browse and bought some underwear for #3, who is so proud of his recent accomplishment. There is still some issue with the... um... brown... side of things, but he's very capable of keeping dry and getting closer to getting the... um... brown... in the potty every day. He picked out boxer briefs like his big brother wears - some solid boy colors and two pair with Lightning McQueen and Mater on them. He thinks he's big stuff now.

We came home for naptime and then when #2 arrived, we finished up our schoolwork. We've got a field trip planned for tomorrow, so we had two short school sessions today to accommodate those plans. Then I sent all three boys out in the (fenced in) backyard, and I followed shortly. We saw a spider spinning and a dead cicada. We put the cicada in a baggie, and we hope to share it with #2's buddy who is afraid of bugs. It's pretty cool looking. It isn't often that we actually see a cicada - we usually just hear them.

I stepped in the house for a few minutes, amid much protest, believing that I'd join them in a few minutes. I finished a kitchen task while watching them through the window. It was a peaceful moment - kind of the wonder one experiences while watching a circus. Where do they get their energy? I stepped out to the freezer to grab some peas to go with dinner....

and I discovered that the door was open and the freezer well-defrosted. Blessedly, this is the side of the month where it is full of milk and not meat. We just went to the dairy Monday, so it was full and the milk had barely thawed. I left it to refreeze and dealt with the four large (Sam's sized) bags of frozen veggies, two small bags of French fries, and a bag of fish sticks.

I tossed the fish sticks. They had been in the door and were completely thawed. I cooked five pounds of green beans and steamed five pounds of broccoli and microwaved a pound of peas and baked the fries.

Needless to say, we'll be eating our veggies this week. It all came out well. And it was quick - I couldn't believe it when I looked at the clock and realized that I'd cooked 15 pounds of assorted veggies in 32 minutes. Time flies when you're...working hard. I was watching the boys the whole time I worked since I can see most of the backyard from the kitchen. They were having a blast, and #4 was toddling along with the others - just as sandy and muddy as they were. At one point, they were all in our (tiny) sandbox. I couldn't find the camera fast enough to get a shot of it, but I'm sure it will happen again.

School 2008-2009

2008-08-12T21:02:00.005-06:00

School starts this week in our neck of the woods.

Rather uncharacteristically, I still haven't finished planning our school year. There is so much to learn together that I have trouble picking a starting point and running with it. I can tell you some things that we are doing:

Math-U-See Alpha
Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading (mostly used loosely as a reference)
Copywork
Narration
Sonlight Science 1
Nature study
Reading - lots of reading - mostly for me, but some for #2, too.

This year, he'll be reading the Old Testament section of The Beginner's Bible and much of The Christian Liberty Nature Reader vol. 1 and some of the readers for Sonlight LA 2 and WinterPromise LA 1.

I'll be reading the Literature, Tales, and Poetry suggested at Ambleside Online, the readings for Sonlight Science (or other books about the same topics, as we have a love/hate relationship with Usborne books.) We'll also do composer and artist study a la Ambleside, and we have our own list of read-alouds that we'd like to work on, too.

History - that's where I'm having trouble. I don't like Ambleside's choices. So, I bought The Story of the World, Vol. 1 - but I just don't know that I want to teach the Ancients before I've taught some basic American history - so I set SOTW aside to start next year. I've looked extensively at My Father's World First Grade (Bible history) and at their Adventures curriculum (American history) - but neither completely fits the bill for our style of education - though Adventures comes really close.

So I decided to write my own - and it has two tracks (Bible and US). We're going to go through The Beginner's Bible one story per week - which will last all year. We'll read the whole story from the Bible, talk about relevant ancient topics (call it Ancients - Light) as they come up, and we'll add Bible characters to our timeline and look up locations on a map (Monday's work, by the way - except for the timeline - that will get stuck together on Friday). On Wednesdays, we'll discuss the American history celebrity of the week, and we'll keep them in chronological order. We'll start with Leif the Lucky and cover Columbus, Pocahontas, Jamestown (place), The Pilgrims, Squanto, Colonial times, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Paul Revere.... Essentially, one person or location per week on up through American history. I'll post more specific books and such as figure out what on earth we are going to do. We'll do map and timeline work for US history, too. I'll pull some from book lists at WinterPromise and Sonlight and the free American history curriculum that I found online.

And that's the craziness that will be school this year.

There is a basic schedule:
Everyday - Bible reading, prayer, and memory verse, poetry, Spanish
Monday - Math - focus on Bible (intro. Story of week, Beginner's bible, copywork, Narration, mapwork, activity)
Tuesday - shortest day - copywork will be weekly memory verse, read literature selection), Composer study.
Wednesday - Math - focus on American history (intro person of week, US history reader and read-aloud to be determined, copywork, narration, mapwork, activity), nature study and gymnastics (outside of the house
Thursday - short day - Math, Aesop, (copywork, narration, read from Aesop), Picture study and art project
Friday - Math - focus on science (nature reader, copywork/narration from SL science readings, experiment,

That looks like a lot for first grade, doesn't it. Keep in mind that nothing takes longer than 10 minutes, and many things take only five. Some require only listening and take place in the van, thanks to my little friend, the iPod.

I'm going to have to quit thinking here for tonight because my computer's about to fall asleep and require a good long recharge. I'll have to come edit this and make it more coherent - maybe - unless I just don't and instead decide to publish what we're up to as we go along. I really want to keep a record of our schooling on the blog for easy reference. We'll see.

A day... a pretty good day...

2008-08-11T11:53:00.001-06:00

I don't have a lot of brain power left - and I have a lot of work left to do, so this will be short and sweet - and is really just so that I do post SOMETHING and don't toss the habit of blogging to the wind quickly.

We spent the day with the Bookworm King home with us - he took a day off to help our family and house recover from a week of him being away. He let me sleep in this morning, and that was wonderful. We had school - we're still working up to a full schedule - I think we'll be there next week. And we did some errands.

This evening, I had the chance to meet some old friends at The Cheesecake Factory for dinner and dessert. I ate way too much. But it was yummy.

I noticed a lady in the back of the restaurant where it was fairly quiet. She wearing plain black pants and a nice-but-comfortable shirt, and she was meditatively enjoying a piece of cheesecake all by herself. I hope she was a mom who just went out by herself for a minute to gain some perspective. At a glance, that is what she appeared to be.

I would really like to do that - spend some time by myself and get things together. I wonder if I can make that happen. I don't know that my afternoon would include a piece of cheesecake, but I would really like to take a couple of hours to set some goals for the school year. I wouldn't even have to be completely alone. Maybe the King and I should hire a babysitter and spend an afternoon sitting together working on our projects. I'd love to have his input on setting school goals.

Now, there's a fly buzzing me and I need to get the dishwasher loaded and go to bed.

Narration: Bible - Tower of Babel

2008-08-11T10:01:00.000-06:00

First, they had to build the Tower of Babel. God did not want it there so He changed their languages so that they couldn't understand each other. So they stopped building the tower, and they all moved to different lands.

By Bookworm #2 - 08/11/2008

Because I am ThoughtfulMom: A public service announcement

2008-08-10T21:57:00.003-06:00

I've been thinking. It seems like I haven't done that in a while. Thought - really thought - about anything for long enough to be able to write it down.

So, I'm going to make an effort to write again. Not just newsy family stuff but about the things I'm pondering. Because I'm always pondering something. I ask almost as many questions as #3, and that's definitely saying something.

So, hopefully in the near future (starting tonight, but we'll see how long it lasts), you may find posts here that are more thoughtful and less newsy mixed in with the pictures and bulletins about life in the Bookworm's Backyard and education in the Backyard Academy for Bookworm Boys. You might find true randomness - or your might find my thoughts on the Bible, Charlotte Mason's work, or whatever I'm currently reading. Like I want to write a review of That Printer of Udell's, and one of The Hidden Hand when I finish it. I've been in so-much-to-say-and-no-time-to-say-it mode for so long that my brain is on overload.

But for now, I'm tired, and I need to sleep - though I have an odd craving for a peanut butter and honey sandwich. Guess I'll have that for breakfast.

To think on: Why did she run away?

2008-08-10T21:31:00.002-06:00

The Samaritan woman at the well in John 4 met with Jesus, and then she ran away to the nearby town, where she became quite the evangelist. I have been pondering what her reason was for running away. This is something we discussed at our small-group meeting this evening as we were pondering different steps in the growth of newly-planted churches (yeah - we jump topics a lot)

Here are two reasons we came up with as a group with one of my own added:
1. She was so excited that she met the Messiah that she had to go tell others.
2. She was hurt because the disciples treated her like the loose woman she had been instead of the free woman she had just become, and she ran away in embarrassment.
3. She felt the weight of her sin and couldn't stand in front of the Messiah a second longer - she ran away when she was struck by the comparison of her sin with His Majesty.

I really think any of these are possible.
Why she ran away doesn't matter as much as the fact that she did. In her running, she was able to tell others (other loose women? those "husbands?") who she had met and bring the whole town back with her.

Beth Moore says, "When you feel like your own mistakes added insult to injury in your circumstances, you're more prone to hang your head in prayer than to lift it in full expectation of God's forgiveness and full redemption" (Stepping Up, pg. 126). The Samaritan woman didn't come to the well expecting anything except some water to use for washing clothes or cleaning dishes or making lunch. All she was planning to do was her job - and all she expected to get from her trip the the well was the fruit of her labor. But she met Jesus. And like so many others, she got more than she bargained for.

She was washed clean. Praise God for His reviving, Living Water.

To think on: Am I doing enough? (Heaven and Hell)

2008-08-10T21:05:00.002-06:00

Charles Peace was a British criminal who was about to receive the death penalty for his crimes. The chaplain came to speak to him - to see if he wanted to receive salvation before his death - and to tell him about heaven and hell. This is what Charles Peace had to say in reply:

"If I believed what you and the church of God say that you believe, even if England were covered with broken glass from coast to coast, I would walk over it, if need be on hands and knees, and think it worthwhile living just to save ONE soul from an eternal hell like that."

My thoughts: I do believe in heaven and in hell. Heaven is a place of joy and bounty and blessing - and hell is a place of darkness and agony and torment.

It's easy to believe in heaven. We die, our soul separates from our bodies, and we walk through the pearly gates to be reunited with those who have gone before us and, more importantly, to finally see the face of Jesus.

It's hard to believe in hell. To believe that those who do not choose Christ are choosing to be tortured in the dark for all eternity. But the Bible is very clear on the matter: Hell was created to punish satan and his angels - and those who choose to reject Christ wind up there too. That is NOT God's plan for any of us - He plans for everyone on earth to choose to follow Him and to be with Him in heaven one day. The choice is ours.

But do I live like I believe in hell? Do I speak out when the opportunity arises to persuade another person to follow Christ? Do I pray for my unbelieving friends and family members? What am I doing to help populate heaven?

(By the way, the current sermon series at LifeChurch.tv is "So You're Dead...Now What?" and it explores what the Bible has to say about heaven and hell. Check it out at Lifechurch.tv.)

Narration: Noah's Ark

2008-08-09T07:06:00.000-06:00

Noah built an ark. And then he invited every animal on there. Then God shut the door, and the flood came. The ark was floating. Noah's family looked at their food and watched every movement of their lamps, but they were safe. Later, they sent a dove out, but it came back because there was nowhere to put its feet. The next time, it brought back a leaf. The third time, it landed on a tree and did not return to the ark. It was time to leave the ark. The ark was on a hill when they got out. The earth was all dried up. They worshiped God. God showed them a rainbow and promised He would never send a flood again.

by Bookworm #2, 08/08/2008

Some days just don't turn out like you think they will

2008-08-07T21:37:00.003-06:00

And today was one of those days.

It started out great - with all things going according to plan - and I love it when what we expect to happen is what happens. We went on a playdate. We went to my mom's to hang out, and the boys stayed with her for a few minutes while I went to meet up with a friend that I haven't seen in a while because she lives far away. We had a lovely time walking around an outdoor mall. I found a pair of capris (that fit! - I now have pants that fit!) on a sale rack at J.Jill. I picked up the kids and came home.

And when I walked in the door, it was really, really warm in here. And it should haven't been warm because the thermostat was set at 76 degrees. And the thermometer in the house read 82. I was less than pleased. I was downright cranky.

I called my dad - he's an AC guy. I answered his questions. And I have to admit that I snapped at him - and that wasn't necessary. I was operating in my flesh - quite obviously - but he came over with his equipment anyway and took a look.

Our air-conditioner is dead. May it rest in peace.

I shed some tears over that.

But my dad has some connections that will make a replacement affordable. And that is a blessing.

And it will be fixed tomorrow. Hallelujah!

But for tonight - it's rather warm around here. I put all three boys to bed in my room because it has a ceiling fan. #4's back in the crib in our room - and #2 and #3 have pallets on the floor. And I'm sitting at the kitchen table writing this and watching a movie on my computer so that I can keep the windows open a little while longer before I close them and go to sleep. Another blessing in all this - it was only in the 80s here today after a week of seeing temperatures over 100 degrees. So, it's not nearly as warm in here as it could have been. Plus, we have air-conditioning in the first place - most people in the world sleep in the heat nightly.

But Mommy....

2008-08-07T14:28:00.002-06:00

Today at Gramma's snack table:

Let me preface this by telling you that this week, #3, who is two and a few months, decided that he is ready to learn the potty, and I've been trying to help him be successful in that.

Conversation going on around the table. About an hour and a half since #3's last trip to the potty.

Break in conversation.

"#3," I say, "it's time to go try to potty."

And he looks very seriously at me and tells me, "But Mommy, I'm having a conberfation about Popsy's car."

Because they are cute....

2008-08-06T21:01:00.003-06:00

#4 was so noisy about falling asleep that he woke up #3, who came to lay down and listen to #2's stories.

And when the story was over, I shut the book and went to kiss them good night, and I had the privilege of seeing this:

Our day in pictures

2008-08-04T23:13:00.002-06:00

We ran an errand. We painted. We read. We played. We did everything we could think of without going outside for more than a few minutes at a time because it was about 147 degrees and 9000% humidity in our corner of the prairie.

#4 showing off his new-found climbing skills. He's fallen off this chair and whacked his chin on the table every day for the past four days, in spite of our preventative measures. We're working on new measures.

The aforementioned painting project - washable acrylics and sea sponges. It was great fun for all. Gramma played too. Art is fun!

A predicament that #3 got himself into this morning. No children or vehicles were harmed in the process of snapping this picture.

Narration: Bible - Adam and Eve

2008-07-31T22:07:00.001-06:00

First, God made the world. Then he made a man out of dirt. Then he made a woman for a friend. They disobeyed God. They met a snake, and they ate the fruit that God had told them not to eat. God sent them out of the garden, and an angel with a flaming sword flamed it up in the sky so that no one could enter the garden again.

By Bookworm #2

My little connoisseur

2008-07-27T15:44:00.002-06:00

It's been really hot in Oklahoma. And for the past three weeks, dry. And dusty. And that makes a car wash necessary. And a new Tunnel Wash opened just down the street from our neighborhood. And it happens to be owned by a friend's kid, and that's just kind of nifty.

We love a good car wash.

You see, we have a car wash connoisseur in our household. #2 loves a good car wash. He analyzes each system inside as to what it does and why and how. He is amazed by any machine with moving parts - and there are all kinds of moving parts in that car wash.

The week that it opened, it was free, and we went nearly every day. I typically say, "We'll go through a car wash on payday." And that is our tradition. Even if it is raining. Because we promised. It's quite funny to everyone else. But since I had no logical reason to say "No," we went.

We went in different combinations. The first day we went twice - once it was just #2 and I, and then later we went back to show Gramma, #3, and #4. The second day, it was me, #2 and #3. The third day it was the King, and #2. On day four, Mimi took #2 and #3 in her car, and my van got a rest from the action. On day five, sadly, it was no longer free. But since I had already promised it as a reward for good behavior, I paid $4 to wash my already-very-clean-van.

But it was good clean fun, my friends. And we were all smiling as we rolled out of the tunnel.

So now you all know just how strange we are.

It's July!

2008-07-13T14:31:00.003-06:00

It's been a wild and crazy couple of months. And it shows. I never meant to go so long without posting, but, since sleep is a necessity, there just aren't enough hours in my day for all that I want to accomplish. It's amazing how quick a day can fly past me, and yet it seems I'm standing still. Yet, my babies are growing up so fast. Bookworm#2 turned six this past week - I can barely believe it. Hasn't it only been a few weeks since he was tiny and cuddled up against me in the Maya Wrap every waking instant because that was the only place where he didn't scream. Maybe a few days since he was an only child, and I was so very sad. Wasn't #3 born the day before yesterday and #4 this morning?

But no. #2 is helping the King of Bookworms run the vacuum. #3 is following them around with the toy vacuum. And #4 is hanging onto my skirt and jabbering to me and walking off to his toys. It's truly amazing how time flies.

All is well here in the Backyard. We're still reading and playing and exploring and living. There is much to tell and very little time in which to tell it. As much as I'd love to have time to write more, I must keep my stance that my family is more important than my blog. However, now the vacuumers have gotten to my little office off the playroom and #4 is very frightened and needs a cuddle. Maybe later

It's Easter!

2008-03-23T17:59:00.003-06:00

Christ has Risen! Hallelujah!
Happy Resurrection Sunday from the Bookworms!

The Chicken of Love

2008-03-03T18:47:00.003-06:00

I don't post recipes often, but occasionally, I come upon something so simple that is just incredible that I have to share.

Tonight's dinner was one of those times.

So, here you go. (Note the cooking time. You want to make this overnight or on a cold day you get to spend at home.)

4 pounds of bone-in chicken (I used legs and thighs)
1 bottle of your family's taste in barbecue sauce (I used about a cup of Head Country)
Some Nature's seasoning or salt and pepper or whatever you season things with at your house

That's it.

Put the chicken in a 9x13 pan. Season it. Cover it with foil. Put it in the oven at 225 degrees for 6-8 HOURS (or until it's done - use your meat thermometer).

Then,

Take it out. Pour the broth off into a container and stick it in the freezer (but don't forget it exists). Remove the skins from the chicken. Pour some BBQ sauce over it (I used about a cup I think). Stick it back in the oven for 30 minutes. Cook some veggies. Make a side dish or slice some bread or don't. And eat. and eat. and eat.

UncaBilly and Stasha - you know that chicken that he makes that involves parboiling and grilling and fourteen other steps - well, this was a pretty close copy - and it required very little effort. All fourteen steps in his recipe do improve things a bit - but this was good and since it doesn't require grilling, it can be made in the snowy mountains. Go get some chicken and Head Country.

Green Hour: Lesser Scaup

2008-02-29T22:46:00.003-06:00

We went on a picnic today. Plan A was to get some tasty sandwiches at a new sandwich shop and head to our favorite duck-feeding spot with a trusty loaf of WonderBread. After we procured the sandwiches, we discovered that a pesky construction crew thought that their agenda was more important than ours. A large pile of gravel blocked the entrance to the park.

Not to be deterred, we abandoned Plan A, decided that Plan B would probably result in damage to us and our trusty van, and moved on to Plan C: go to another duck-feeding spot. This one is not our favorite because you can get right up to (and into) the nasty water - something that a certain toddler is very comfortable with - and his mom is N.O.T.

We sat at a picnic table very very far away from the water (about 10 feet) and ate our mouthwatering picnic (Gram and I split a cheesesteak and a club because neither of us could pick one or the other, #2 had his favorite - ham and bread, and #3 and #4 shared a grilled cheese - we all had fruit and the kids had cheese sticks and cookies). A Canadian goose stared at me the whole time. He must have been thinking, "She's going to eat that cheesesteak in front of me and then toss me some nasty white bread."

We finished eating and Gram and #4 watched #2 and #3 and I feed the geese and ducks. We tossed some bread at a goose, but he just ignored us. We tossed some bread at the other goose and she practically smiled as she gobbled it up. #3 was joyously tossing whole pieces of bread at the other goose. The goose was no longer ignoring us. He stared at me, obviously thinking "Get your kid out of my face, lady." I pulled #3 back by his shirt.

The goose hissed at me. And I could see his tongue. Why on earth it never dawned on me that geese have tongues - well, that I really can't explain. How did I think he got food and other things into his mouth without any hands? I don't know - I just never thought about it. Score one more for Charlotte. This mom got up close and personal with a wild Canadian goose today.

Anyway - the lesser scaup is the duck pictured above. I probably would have forgotten all about the smaller ducks after the goose accident, except that another mom and her two kiddos showed up a few minutes after we finished eating. They plopped down with their picnic and tossed pieces of bread in and mostly just watched the ducks because they were already full after being pelted with WonderBread by #2 and #3. Then the mom pulled out a field guide. I thought, "Hmmm, why didn't I bring a field guide? Actually, why haven't I BOUGHT a field guide? She's a better homeschooler than me."

A few minutes later, it hit me with a jolt - she was ANOTHER HOMESCHOOLER. Gram and the babies were already heading back to the van to prevent wet mishaps involving trillions of microscopic organisms that we didn't care to learn about on our nature study excursion. #2 and I were picking up our gear, and I spoke to her - "You aren't, by chance, a fan of Charlotte Mason? I saw your field guide, and I'd really like to know what kind of ducks those are." Turns out, she is, those are lesser scaups, and she's planning to come to the next CM discussion meeting. We frequent the same parks and library, so we'll may run into each other again before then.

But, because I was a bit scattered, I can't remember her name. It starts with a T, and it's a bit unusual. Hopefully she's come to the discussion group so I can meet her again and look like less of an idiot than I did while I was being hissed at by a goose.

Family Day

2008-02-22T23:13:00.003-06:00

We've had a couple of nice days at home. #3 has an icky toddler virus that will soon pass. I'm working hard to keep him from contaminating the others. Yesterday, Gramma came over and we painted up a storm. She brought with her a huge Backyardigans poster book that has been collecting dust at her house and some poster paint that had been sitting around for a while. By the end of the day, the bathroom floor was covered, but we started out by covering the bed:

When naptime rolled around, we had all had a bit of practice controlling both paintbrush and markers. #2 even did one posted on which he abandoned his usual monochromatic tendencies. He was rather proud of his apron and its pockets - he kept stuffing them full of paintbrushes.

#3 was very busy with the paint, the markers, and the crayons. He's the little artist in the house:

And #4 was happy to eat cheerios, play with toys and explore while we worked:

Today marked our third year without #1. The Bookworm King took the day off from work. We were mostly lazy with a side of housework. I went to Target for eggs and bread and discovered an amazing price on Similac and bought the rest of what #4 is going to need (about six week's worth.) After naptime, we went off to #1's "Remembering Spot" - Gram had put out some new flowers and Mimi had written a poem on a balloon. We left another balloon and prayed and talked a bit, but it was really cold, so we didn't stay long. We did some more errands on the way to dinner, including at stop at our favorite bread store for a loaf of challah, which will become French toast in the morning.

But right now, I've got to go fold the laundry - all six loads. Darn virus. It had better go away quick!

Because I'm highly amused....

2008-02-18T10:20:00.007-06:00

I have to tell you that #2 is using my digital camera to take pictures of whatever his little heart desires. This is a treat for doing his school work well today. It's not common for him to get such a surprise as a reward for doing his work well and promptly and accurately - not that he doesn't do such thing - the reward is what is uncommon - so he is enjoying himself immensely, and saying such things as:

"#3, smile at me!"

"See my blocks!

"#3, you are so cute! Reading a book!"

"Mom, that's a great smile!"

"Copper and Little Bear, look here!"
"There they are all cute"

"Oh, look! The Sun! It's very bright outside!"

"The Lightbulb! Oh, I L.O.V.E. lightbulbs!"

Animal sounds

2008-02-05T16:19:00.000-06:00

Long time, no post. I've been busy preventing #4 from eating dust bunnies and #3 from climbing bookshelves and #2 from dismantling the VCR.

#3 is in a funny stage - the animal stage. In one day he is fourteen different animals. And he goes around growling and meowing and cock-a-doodle-do-ing. And if I oink or moo or hee-haw back he just goes into gales of giggles - laughs until he almost can't breathe

He was also just riding his Thomas the Train push toy (his "car") through the house going to "Grandma's" (the fireplace) wearing a blanket around his shoulders (his "coat"). Think he's trying to tell me something? Oh - now he is "ready go home 'gain." I ask, "You're coming back from grandma's?" and he says, "Yes, mudder."

Oh, he's a hoot! If only I could record every moment!

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-24T21:45:00.000-06:00

Um.. Hi Mom. What was I supposed to say?

Mom, what is this?

Oooooo, pretty! Oh - Mom, was I supposed to be doing something?

Merry Christmas from The Bookworms!

(By the way, because we are the Bookworms, I feel obligated to tell you that if The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey isn't part of your Christmas book collection, you need to pick it up! It's a beautiful story about how Jesus, a little boy, and his widowed mother change the heart and the life of a grumpy widower.)

And also, aren't my mother-in-law's tree and staircase lovely?

Electricity, UncaBilly, and Christmas Cheer

2007-12-19T00:05:00.000-06:00

Though I didn't mention it, the ice store knocked out our power for about five days. I do, however, have VERY generous in-laws who allowed us to occupy the second story of their house for the duration. So, we all had a bed to sleep in. It made for a very interesting week. At least the roads weren't bad - we were able to get out during the day and travel around town fairly well.

This week, UncaBilly has come to visit. He took #2 out for the afternoon - they went hiking. It was apparently great fun and included frog-spotting, rock-tossing, and an unplanned swim - #2 got a bit too close. We were very blessed that he can keep afloat.

We've worked a bit on Christmas school - parts of Live And Learn's Grinch lapbook and a nativity lapbook. For the rest of the week, we'll be working on Hands of a Child's Christmas Cheer lapbook. And then we're taking a week off. Currant read-alouds include Mr. Popper's Penguins and The Best Christmas Pagent Ever.

But right now I'm going to sleep.

Ice Age

2007-12-10T23:53:00.000-06:00

Our pretty shade tree in the front yard:

#2's favorite climbing tree:

Random areas of the South side of Bookwormsville:

Update on Bookworm #3

2007-12-08T22:50:00.000-06:00

Here's #3. He's busy. He's 21 months old, and he thinks he's five years old like #2. He climbs anything and everything. I snapped this picture to remind me of the rare occasion of him going THROUGH the tunnel instead of OVER it.

He is the king of the one-word sentence. "Shoes. On." "Lights. Off." And my favorite: "Whole-deeeeee!" (Hold me, please. I need a snuggle.)

And there is so, so much more I could say about this little boy - but I STILL need that shower and the Bookworm King just handed me a paper to proofread, so I'm signing off for the night.

I was updating you - so there were three posts in one night. However, in the future, ya'll will be getting snippets, remember, and that is ok. It's appropriate for my season, and it's OK.

Update on Bookworm #4

2007-12-08T22:41:00.001-06:00

See these baby blues? He looks just like #2 did at this age (7 months, by the way). Only #4 is happy - #2 pretty much cried until he learned to crawl.... which #4 is doing rapidly. He has reverse down pat. Forward motion should be forth-coming - maybe the wrapping paper will get him going on Christmas morning. Lord knows there will be a ton of it available to play with.

#4 is just sweet - he loves to snuggle, he chews on his toys, he laughs, he chows down on both fruits and veggies - but he doesn't like rice cereal. His brothers think he's some kind of living action figure - and sometimes he's a bump in their road or a boulder on their train track.

Again I could say much more, but I still need to go take that shower...

Update on Bookworm #2

2007-12-08T22:20:00.000-06:00

Look at those beautiful blue eyes! This is one place you can usually find my energetic Bookworm #2 - he's swinging from a tree in the backyard. And he is happy, so very happy, when he is OUT. IN is very hard for him - he is the epitome of boy - one definition I've read is "a noise with dirt on it." While he has many other wonderful qualities, that is definitely true. He likes to make messes - but he also likes to help clean them up. He has the muddiest pants in the history of the world, but he loves to help load and unload the washing machine. He tracks in more outdoors than he leaves out, but he likes to vacuum. He's a wonderful helper.

As for school, he's reading pretty well - when he wants to, and he's learning the additions facts and coming along in mathematical know-how - when he wants to. He loves to be read to. He hates to write. He wants to know, but he doesn't want to work. This has left me trying to find a balance in our homeschool between having school and working with his whims. He is only five. There is no reason for us to stress over school. I am more concerned with him ENJOYING learning and wanting to know more and read more than I am with filling out workbook pages and doing math problems. SO, I've made some adjustments in our homeschool to accommodate him - because he's the only student at the moment, and the whole program can revolve around him and his needs. We've swung way more towards the ideals of a Charlotte Mason education - but that is another post.

His behavior is coming under control. Temper tantrums are rare now, and obedience is quickly becoming a habit. (Hallelujah!)

There is much more to say about this enthusiastic bookworm, but I need to go take a shower.

I am giving myself permission...

2007-12-08T22:12:00.001-06:00

I love to write. It's just as easy for me to blog as it is to write anywhere else since I'm anal about grammar and spelling and usch regardless of where I'm writing or for whom.

I had all these grand plans to post book reviews, to write interesting things that others would read, to post things that might help others.

Obviously that isn't God's plan for my blog

because I haven't posted in two months.

I've had things to say, but this isn't my season for brainiac blog posting.

SO...

I'm refining my vision for my blog. This is going to be a catalog of events - photographs and verbal snapshots of our family and our activities and such. You will often find here, a day in the life. You'll find things I want to remember - a scrapbook, in many cases, of events and moments that I never want to forget (yes, my nerdy husband makes sure that my blog is periodically backed-up)

I'm giving myself permission to post one paragraph in a day - or a picture and a sentence - or a series of snapshots with no words at all.

Life in this season is moving so quickly that I can't take it all in. I'm missing memories right and left - and I have to get them recorded. I love to crop, but scrapbooking isn't fitting in well right now. We'll see if I can do better by just blogging often instead of blogging deep thoughts and important decisions.

Because I haven't posted any lately...

2007-10-10T21:10:00.000-06:00

and because our beloved UncaBilly is about to leave his laptop behind as he sojourns in the wilderness for a week, I'll show you all an hour in our lives...

Yesterday, while the baby was sleeping,

We painted,

and painted some more. And then I answered the phone...

I'm not sure it was a good idea (by the way - that's paint, not blood)

I will spare you the next two hours - during which there were baths and then #3 napped and #2 sat in timeout for painting his brother and I cleaned up. And then #2 watched a movie and I fell into my chair and dozed until a baby cried because painting wore me out. It just plain wore me out.

Peek-a-boo.

Whatcha taking another picture for, Mom?

#2's first written note. Can you see what it says? Look carefully.

Dare to Move...

2007-10-09T08:53:00.000-06:00

As I mentioned, we have had an interesting season at our church that has left us tired - worn out - in need of spiritual renewal. And we've been seeking the Lord about whether we are to stay in this exhausting situation or move on.

And, I have to report, that He has answered us in a His subtle and mighty way. We have bowed out of our committees and we're moving. Two or three weeks ago, we visited "the Bible study church" and heard an amazing message called "Dare to Move" - get out of your comfort zone and minister. I was thinking in my own little brain - this is it. God's will for us is to join this church - which is wonderfully friendly and has made room for us in both their women's ministry and in their Awana program. But I didn't say anything, as I wanted to follow my sweet husband's led - and I think that sometimes he listens to me too much. I knew either of our two candidate churches would be good for our family, and I wanted to leave things up to him.

He has had two meetings with the leadership of the other church - one just to ask questions - he tagged along on a friend's lunch date with the church's local pastor - and the other to discuss a dream that God has put on his heart. His dream will find support in this congregation - plus they may be able to use his expertise in another area to improve somethings. So, this is our new church. We went to the new member's seminar last night and wound up joining the church in one accord and with complete peace in our spirits.

Novel Idea.

2007-09-30T21:01:00.000-06:00

For the past six months, we've been getting up on Sunday and going to the church at the I grew up in and then going to LifeChurch.tv (the local campus) in the evening. At the church I grew up in, we see some friends, enjoy our Sunday school class, deal with an unhappy child, sit through a service during which my sweet hubby nearly always nods off and my mind always wanders away. The morning is rushed and completed by a frantic drive across town to arrive barely-on-time, if not late. We are typically exhausted and whiny (even the adults). We learn little. We come home (or go to my mom's) and crash for a bit - and don't accomplish anything. We pack everyone back in the car and go to LifeChurch, where we have always heard an applicable sermon and where our children are happy and learning. #2 can nearly always narrate the lesson back to us in the car on the way home and sometimes even a few days later.

This morning, the Bookworm King announced that we were staying home from my childhood church and just going to the evening service at LifeChurch.

It was a lovely day. He let me sleep in a bit. We had a relaxed morning (the only one in the past week). We enjoyed each other. I did the school planning for the next few weeks and wrote the menu and updated the calendar and made a grocery list. He played with the boys. Then we ate lunch, and I supervised naptime while he worked. We went to church. He bathed the boys and I went to the grocery store. He's paying the bills and I'm writing this. And we're going to be in bed by 10:30 knowing that we are ready for tomorrow.

I'm truly thankful that God let him in this direction. We actually had a restful Sabbath in spite of the fact that we both did quite a bit of necessary work in preparation for the week. And I'm feeling incredibly peaceful in my spirit. I wonder if this path will continue.

Date Interrupted.

2007-09-29T22:24:00.000-06:00

It started at 7:30 this morning - My sweet DH was going to take the van to Hibdon to get the additional new tired that it needed. He took #2 with him, and Mimi and Popsy were planning to meet them to actually purchase the tires because that was a birthday/anniversary gift for us. Then they were going to borrow #3 and #2 so that we could take #4 and go to Borders to spend the Bookworm King's birthday gift certificates.

Yeah. That was our plan.

If you remember the last Hibdon story, you know that we got the front tires replaced three months ago, and that God provided wonderfully for a grand rescue from a raining highway just south of civilization.

What I didn't say in that story was that my dad rescued me twice - once from the boys during the wait on the tire, and once from a mistake that Hibdon made that was financially beneficial for them and bad for me. So, when the King and #2 left this morning, I cautioned them to make sure that the job was done right.

It wasn't. And they didn't notice.

The counter-girl rang up the order wrong and the pit crew followed directions even though they should have questioned them - so we had two new tires on the front - again - and the same old tires on the back.

The King went on to Borders because it was his money and he needed time to shop. I took #2 and #3 to Mimi and went to fix the tire problem. The funny thing is that by the time the job was done right, Hibdon had sold me six tires for the price of four and done the labor necessary four times instead of two - and then I firmly and politely asked for a discount because they had wasted my time - not once, but twice. So it came down to six new Firestone tires for the price of three, labor paid twice instead of four times. If they were trying to swindle me, I'd say I won at that game.

Ya'll I can just see my dad grinning as he thinks about it. He was mad when I told him the story, but I know he was impressed that I asked for that discount.

ANYWAY - back to the date. I met up with the King, who apologized for not checking things out and bought me a peace offering (Cinnamon latte, yum.) not that that was necessary. The date was short but sweet. We discussed his purchases and I drooled over King Arthur Whole Grain Baking and hinted that I want it ASAP (there really wasn't much hinting there.) Coffee was yummy. #4 was dozy. Conversation was nice - but the date was cut short because of the tire debacle - Mimi and Popsy need to get to the game (I'm sure their presence and the appropriate shouting of "Orange" and "Power" contributed to the 39-3 win - Go Pokes!). Got to the register and found that the birthday money was downtown at the office.

But, he and #2 were planning a trip downtown for a birthday party anyway, so it was decided that they'd pick the wallet up on the way home. I brought the babies home for nap time. (I love nap time. I had a bit of a doze myself). I made mushroom-swiss burgers for dinner with hot dogs for the kids. The King and I ate while #2 and #3 got clean in the tub. That was part two of the date - dinner conversation. About a half hour later, there was more conversation in the car on the way to Borders to actually buy the books and but on the way home we got sucked into a conversation about WHO was going to bed WHEN and with or without stories. The outcome of that - #2 was the first to bed but the last to sleep - and he did get some stories, but he had to lay in his bed and listen from afar. There was more conversation over dessert and some over laundry folding and the watching of The Pirate of the Caribbean (1), which I had never seen.

Weirdest Date Day we ever had - but it was fun. God has blessed me with a wonderfully flexible man - lends a good bit of flexibility to my daily routine.

So, in short (and in order) - children grandparented, doughnuts eaten, tires fixed, books sought, coffee drunk, kids retrieved, naps taken, birthday partied, wallet procured, dinner fixed, burgers eaten, bookworms washed, books purchased, babies tucked, stories read, boy snoring, laundry folded, movie watched, Jack victorious, hubby happy, and now to bed.

A better day.

2007-09-28T21:23:00.000-06:00

We did something novel today.

We stayed home.

We did a bit of cleaning, a bit of cooking, a bit of school, some outdoor play, lots of indoor play, played with some friends, did a bit of mess making, and bit of napping (hallelujah!) and just enjoyed each other. This evening, we had a car picnic at Sonic and went to buy some groceries. We got home at bedtime.

It was a much better day.

That is about the most mundane blog post I've ever read, but that's all I've got. :)

Oh, what a Thursday.

2007-09-27T21:26:00.000-06:00

Oh my.
Got up.
Got ready.
Packed for a week.
Went to the picture studio.
Did pictures.
Waited on digital stuff to load.
Waited
Waited some more
Waited some more
Waited even longer
Choose my purchases.
Waited to pay
Waited longer
Paid.
Ate lunch with Mimi and Gram at Panera Bread.
Came back (#2 went to Mimi's)
Napped the babies
Had short playdate with a new friend who has twins who #3's age
Sent them home.
Packed up again.
Hugged #2 hello.
Kissed my husband hello.
Loaded up and went to dinner and a small group meeting at a friend's house.
Dinner was tasty
Meeting was OK.
#2 did NOT have a successful evening - refused to go to timeout in his carseat and got himself into all sorts of trouble.
Came home - got kids bathed.
#3 tripped and split his chin - gaping and bleeding
Went to Children's Urgent Care.
Got him glued back together.
Came home
Put him to bed
Put #4 to bed
Ate chocolate cake
Typed this.
Answered email.
Crashed.

Our Wednesday

2007-09-26T13:04:00.000-06:00

We got up at 3am because of a thunderstorm. Most of us were back to sleep by 5am - except for DH, who woke up at 6am as happy as a lark - because he got a full night's sleep. :) I hope it does him good. I took a nap from 6-8am. Praise the Lord for his boss, who doesn't make him keep a strict schedule.

We did school, and then the boys and I went to the library for Storytime.

The plan was to proceed directly to Borders (it's Educator Sale week) to spend my birthday gift certificates. But there was great hunger in the ranks that caused monkey-like behavior in the library, and so we stopped at Arby's on the way and then had a picnic-in-the-car. Then they managed to behave like human beings in Borders. I rewarded them with a snickerdoodle in the cafe - and treated myself to a cup of maple-white-chocolate-coffee yumminess. Then Drew hid from me and lost all his privileges. (Imagine?!)

I redeemed my birthday bucks for:

Handbook of Nature Study
Nourishing Traditions
Geography of the World

There are so many books on my list, yet most of them are available through my beloved local library. It's hard to figure out what books I want to own and which ones are nice to borrow. I've been thinking about these purchases for two weeks.

It's been a whole month...

2007-09-24T22:09:00.000-06:00

I'm not a very good blogger, as a blogger must blog to be a blogger, and I've been good at a lot of things, but blogging hasn't been one of them.

HOWEVER, I've been busy with the important work of motherhood, and I've been instructed by my husband to take better care of myself, which has meant more rest and reading in the evenings and less time blogging. I'm a bit rundown after two pregnancies in two years. Mostly, I've been enjoying my children and teaching and training them and loving them and laughing with them and being amused by them. (Who would fail to be amused by a five-year-old singing, "And this next song will be the best song I ever made up..." in the back of the van?)

So, (in no particular order) the things I've been up to...
1. Homeschooling - #2 is enjoying his trip through the US and the books from Sonlight Core C. He's proud of his Trip notebook, his reading is improving rapidly, and he's memorizing lots of scripture for Awana. He's fallen in love with Math-U-See.

2. Cooking from scratch - my stomach is not appreciating corn to an entirely new degree, so I'm having to be more careful about what I eat. #2 has been showing major behavior improvement with the decline of preservatives and additives in his diet, so that has me wondering. #3 does my heart good by eating everything and asking for more. #4 is a little chowhound, too. The whole mess has me spending more time on food prep than I really have time for, but a system is in the works.

3. Bible study - My group started the new version of Beth Moore's "A Woman's Heart, God's Dwelling Place." There might be several posts on that forthcoming if I get regular time to blog.
I also have weekly memory work to do because I'm helping in a class at Awana.

4. Childcare - with a five-year-old and two babies, this is taking most of my time - but it is fun (mostly).

5...

Oh my, there is so much more, but it's past my bedtime, and there is no telling when I'm going to be summoned by someone.

Love letter

2007-08-23T13:07:00.000-06:00

Dear King of Bookworms,

I've tried to call you several times to tell you that the dryer won't stop running unless the door is open, but the nice lady who answers says that your number has been disconnected.

Would you please look into this - the phone, that is, because since you aren't in the office today, it would be nice to know that I could contact you in a emergency or to remind you that Bookworm #2 and I need to be at Awanas at 6, so dinner will be at 5pm tonight - though I would like your permission to call The Appliance Guy about the dryer - the whole dryer problem frustrates me because six weeks ago, when the troublesome washer died and the wonderful, never-gives-us-a-problem dryer was dutifully spinning when asked and resting when it wasn't needed, we could have purchased the dryer to match the washer for $500 more than we paid for just the washer, and because we didn't, and now, if The Appliance Guy can't fix the dryer, we'll have to pay $800 for the same dryer we could have gotten for $500 six weeks ago - not that we had the $800 or the $500, but at least we wouldn't have to worry about the house burning down because someone forgot to leave the dryer OPEN. So, can I please pray that The Appliance Guy can fix the dryer cheaply (like under $100) and then call him to come fix it?

Of course, right now the dryer is supposed to be running because it is full of fluffy clean diapers. And then it can run for another 40 minutes to fluff up our nice clean clothes. It's a regular Fluff and Fold in our house today.

The sweet baby just smiled at me, and I know that you will still come home for dinner at 5pm in spite of this email (which is about to become, with your permission, a blog post that will cause moms to smile because they have been there and done that) and just knowing you'll come home makes me swoon.

I love you very, very much.

Queen of Bookworms

So much to blog, so little time.....

2007-08-21T15:35:00.000-06:00

OK - I don't really have time to post anything, but I wanted to make a list of things I'd like to write, and it makes sense to make it here.

1. #3 and the Italian cream cake
2. Photo updates
3. Summer reading update and Book reviews
4. Greek chicken recipe for Barbara
5. Basic school subject plan
6. Reviews of HOAC Little Miss Muffet, Katy and the Big Snow, Jesus Loves the Little Children, and Beginning Reading (gee, that's list in itself)
7. Review of Language Lessons for Little Ones from Queen Homeschool
8. several posts for the Flat Stanley project
9. The Oklahoma Unit

And since I'm writing, I'll tell you that #2 is very busy as usual, #3 is developing a naughty streak that is pretty darn cute - it's difficult not to laugh at him, but I try hard, and #4 is very sweet and getting big and getting grumpy because he's been laying in my lap as I type.

Here's #2 in a very appropriate shirt. (It says, "THIS is my secret identity.")

#3 signs adamantly, "More PLEASE" (with both hands) because he LIKES Italian Cream Cake even if it has more chemical ingredients in it than he is usually given.

And here are #2 and #3 making #4 smile. Isn't he a cutie! (By the way, he's sporting a Bumgenius one-size diaper - if you are wondering how the BG1 fits a 15 pound boy, rest assured that it fits pretty well.)

Back to Homeschool Part 5

2007-08-10T00:22:00.000-06:00

Randi at I have to say... is hosting Back to Homeschool week. She's put forth one question for each day this week.

Friday, August 10---Curriculum
What curriculum do you use? Where do you buy it? Have you found a "gem" that you must share with others? Was something in particular a complete failure for you and your kids?

We did My Father's World Kindergarten last year. It was fun, but I modified the language arts portion a LOT. The unit study part was wonderful, and we both enjoyed learning about different aspects of Creation. But I learned that it is better for my kiddo to have his basic separate from his unit study. He also did Singapore Early Bird Math 2A and 2B. Our waste-of-money for the year was the purchase of the first unit of Rod and Staff Language Arts for first grade. There was WAY too much workbook work for my kid. Might work for others, but didn't work for use at all.

This year we are using (very loosely) the Advanced Kindergarten Language Arts from Winter Promise with readers from both Winter Promise Adv K LA and Sonlight LA 1. Math is Horizons Math K. Both are working very nicely.

We are currently working on some lapbook units from our backlog of products from In the Hands of a Child. They are much enjoyed.

In two weeks or so we will start our unit study on geography and cultures. I've complied it from Galloping the Globe, Cantering the Country, Five in a Row, HomeschoolShare, and Sonlight Core C. We are using some notebooking products and lapbooking products to create a scrapbook of our journey. It should be fun.

Know what? I have to be up again in 5.5 hours. I need to go to bed!

Back to Homeschool part 4

2007-08-09T19:22:00.000-06:00

Randi at I have to say... is hosting Back to Homeschool week. She's put forth one question for each day this week.

Thursday, August 9---If I had only known...
What have you learned on your homeschooling journey? What would you/did you change? This is an opportunity to encourage others who are just starting out or who are struggling with issues that seem unsolvable. It is also a perfect opportunity to tell us about one of those days made you want to throw in the towel. A funny story? Perfect!

I know that by homeschooling, I'm doing what I am called to do for these children at this time. Now, if I'd know that #2 comes within 9/10's of an inch of being as stubborn as I am, I don't know that I would have started. Or I might have quit on Monday when it took 7 HOURS and 32 MINUTES for him to write the words fan, fill, and fat. As long as I'm a smidgen more stubborn than he is, it will be fine. For the record, for the 7.5 hours, he had NO privileges at all. Water. A basic lunch. Trips to the potty. A total of two hours sitting on his bed with no toys while I dealt with babies and couldn't make sure he was sitting at the table with his Language Arts for Little Ones workbook. No electricity. No nothing. That was a really hard seven hours for both of us. But, he does now know that any assignment is required. Every other day this week, he's finished all of his work in under thirty minutes thanks to a game called, "Beat the clock" in which he can win screen time. Now the work just magically gets done in a short time - or at least it has the past two days. We'll see if it happens again tomorrow.

I also didn't know that my mom wouldn't completely support the idea or that my mother-in-law would quietly but adamantly oppose it. Hopefully, their hearts will be turned towards homeschooling over the next couple of years. Because we do see them both several times a week, it will be easier if they are on board with the idea.

Back to Homeschool part 3

2007-08-08T23:22:00.000-06:00

Randi at I have to say... is hosting Back to Homeschool week. She's put forth one question for each day this week.

Wednesday, August 8---Getting out there...
Extra-curricular activities, community involvement, volunteering, sports teams, music lessons, making sure your kids have opportunities to be social, co-ops, etc., etc., etc...

Like I said, I have little kids. We have friends, and in the past we've just hung out with them - playdates and park days and such. We go to THREE different churches during a week (sounds nuttier than it is). We go to StoryTime at the library, the grocery stores, the local parks, the zoo, and the aquarium. We spend so much time going that I have to be careful to get schoolwork done on a daily basis.

I haven't joined a homeschool group or a co-op yet, though we've been to the park with one local group, and we will probably go again. Other co-ops in this area are very formal, and at this point, we just need kids to play with at the park. After all, most social interactions can be taught there.

#2 is good at making friends and meeting people. He will go up to the lady at the bakery counter in the local SuperTarget and ask for cookies for he and his brother quite politely and actually share one of the two cookies with #3. He typically will talk to anybody - particularly about garage doors - he's a garage door connoisseur. We are working at home on things like personal space and appropriate conversation. Little brothers give lots of opportunity for how to treat people. I am reading Scott Turansky's book Saying Goodbye to Whining, Complaining, and Bad Attitudes in You and Your Kids, so we have had many conversations about honor lately.

We also have family in town. Well, that might be an understatement. We have 65 relatives in this city. Sometimes that's good - at Thanksgiving, it can be overwhelming (just try eating Thanksgiving dinner three or four times in one day). Of the relatives, the two sets of grandparents are seen several times each week. There are large family gatherings every month. It gets a bit wild, but it presents many more social opportunities.

Overall, I want my children to treat people right - to honor others. Right now, as young as #2 is, I do my best to keep him with children from other families that teach similarly. As he grows, there will be plenty of time to meet people. Right now, sheltering him a bit isn't a bad thing. He's quite the social creature, so we haven't picked out a sport or an instrument for him yet, but it will come in time.

Back to Homeschool part 2

2007-08-08T22:22:00.000-06:00

Randi at I have to say... is hosting Back to Homeschool week. She's put forth one question for each day this week.

Tuesday, August 7---How do you homeschool?
Scheduling, classical education, unschooling, getting the kids to help with chores, how to be "mom" and "teacher" at the same time, special needs, teaching an advanced child, how to teach the tough subjects, teaching high school, teaching with babies and preschoolers in the house, budgeting for homeschool supplies, notebooking, etc., etc., etc...

Hmmm. I answered most of these in this post. In general, we are pretty eclectic. In philosophy, I lean toward a Charlotte Mason/Classical education sort of thing. We read a LOT. Reading aloud is a part of every day in several sessions. It is great fun. The King and I have a great affection for the printed word, and we are passing that right along to our children. We have taught ourselves a lot of things by reading, and we want to pass that skill along as well.

How do I teach with babies? Well, it's a little easier for me than some because all mine are young. I do most of the teaching during naptime. Next year, when #3 is only taking one nap, it will be interesting. For right now, teaching during naptime works.

We play "Beat the Clock" a lot. #2 tries to get his seatwork down (neatly and accurately) before the timer beeps. I give him about twice the time I think he COULD do it in if he just sat and did it, but it is getting his schoolwork actually done in two 30 minute sessions instead of it taking two hours to get halfway done.

As for teaching an advanced for his age child, we just do the next thing. When he is ready to go on, we go on. When he needs to linger somewhere for a bit, we linger. When he decides that he wants to know more about..... we go look it up.

Back to Homeschool part 1

2007-08-08T21:09:00.000-06:00

Randi at I have to say... is hosting Back to Homeschool week. She's put forth one question for each day this week. I'm already two days behind, so we'll see if I can catch up.

What led to your decision to homeschool? Why do you do what you do? What brought you to homeschooling? What factors played a part in your decision?

Well, this could be a long story. Let me begin by saying that we feel called by God to homeschool. We firmly believe that this is His best for our family. That is the number one, largest, neon sign reason to teach our children at home. If this were not the number one reason, I would not pursue this very difficult task that requires so much sacrifice on my part.

The other reasons follow.

1. I have a hunk of an education degree. While I was doing my classroom observations, I had a good look at about 10 different classrooms in this state. I watched the smart kids get ignored, the not-so-smart ones get pampered, the average ones get bored, and the rowdy ones making everything difficult for everybody. The kids were overall nice to each other, but learning was difficult at best, and in some cases, teaching was nearly non-existent because so much time was spent on discipline. This was the same old environment - the one I'd grown up in - and if no one could have made changes in it by now, then I wouldn't be able to change it either, and I didn't want to put my kids into it. When I changed degree programs, my then-fiance-now-husband and I had a serious talk about how our children would be educated. We decided on private schools. That was when we thought we'd be DINKs for a few years before we had kids. Once we were married, we were pregnant in five months. Private schools? Who can afford that? It wasn't just the price - the situation isn't that much better at private schools.

2. As children, my husband and I both spend a lot of time at the head of the class and bored. We each had a constructive way of dealing with the boredom, but it was frustrating to have to wait for everybody else when we were ready to move on (different schools, same city). We live in the same area we were public-schooled in. In most cases, the public schools here have stunk and still stink. Systems are badly organized. All but the average kids are overlooked. No Child Left Behind actually made the problem worse instead of better.

3. When we were asked to put Bookworm#1 into the public school system to receive therapies after he aged out of the early childhood program for kids with special needs, we had all the meetings. We met all the people. It was got for about six months. I did not sign the medical release form that allowed them contact with our doctors without our knowledge or participation. Then someone from "The System" called the pediatrician's office we used and asked a doctor who had never seen #1 if he could come to school full-time instead of receiving therapy at home. The doctor apparently agreed to it, though we hadn't, and the large group of specialists hadn't. So, the school canceled all of our home therapy and said that if he wasn't in their building from 9am-3pm five days a week, they didn't have to do anything for him. The geneticist, cardiologist, and our regular, beloved pediatrician just about came unglued. And that is putting it lightly - The King and I were livid. We withdrew him from the system, and we definitely will not put any of our children into THIS sneaky public school system ever. Should they need to go to public school, we will move first.

4. Because we like to keep our children with us. We like them (most of the time) and we love them completely all of the time. We want to have a strong family - for our children to be close friends, and to enjoy each other. We want them to have lots of time for childhood, so we want to teach them at their own paces a little bit at a time and enjoy the years we have with them. We want to watch every step of their learning process and see the light bulbs coming on. We want them to learn to be themselves and to interact with all ages of people and to love all people. We want to teach them to love Jesus and to think and to reason and to love people and show Jesus to them. We want to teach them how to teach themselves and to love learning.

5. We are history and science buffs who want more time to learn - and it will be fun to study as a family.

On the Dinner Table...

2007-08-06T12:23:00.000-06:00

Since a big part of successful dinner preparation is having a plan....

Sunday: Charlie's Chicken after church. No cooking. :)
Monday: Greek chicken, Zucchini and Yellow Squash, Brown Rice, Grapes
Tuesday: Chicken Parmesan with Whole Wheat Spaghetti, Garlicky Spinach, other fruits and veggies that need eating
Wednesday: Tacos with Ground Beef, Cheese, Veggies and Whole Wheat Tortillas, fruit (Produce Shopping Day)
Thursday: Honey Dijon Chicken, broccoli, fruit, Pasta
Friday: Macaroni and cheese, smoked sausage, green beans, fruit
Saturday: Leftovers

Of course, there are variations on the above to accommodate the kids, but this is what my sweet hubby and I will be eating.

Maybe now that the baby fell asleep on me while I was typing the other two ornery bookworms will give me enough time to finish putting together the salad I was making for lunch and EAT it. I'm starving. I've been trying to get the salad eaten for over two hours. But I withstood the call of their lunch plates, gosh darn it.

Backyard Bookworms

I might as well make it official

Isaac Update 07122009 0719

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Bookworm #5

Heard in our living room....

Be a Book Buddy

And he has arrived....

The time has come, and I'm a tad nervous....

In case you are curious....

March in all it's craziness, part 1

March in all it's craziness, part 2

Boomtown Bonanza GiveAway

#3 turns 3

Feathering my nest....

Conversations in the grocery store....

Caution: Treasures are being stolen!

In case you were curious....

Since we're working on our home...

FAMILY MODERN

Living Room

Bedroom

Dining Room

Home Office

Kids' Room

Conclusion

Do you know you can save products to your shortlist?

Keep your favourite products on a list

We've been cleaning...

Merry Christmas from the Bookworms!

Merry Christmas Adam!

UncaBilly brought the best Christmas present.

Making Memories with Mimi

Bookworm#2’s Twelve Days of Christmas (composed by himself)

Guess who we had lunch with!

Mission accomplished.

When Pigasso met Mottisse by Nina Laden

Quotes from Pocketfull of Pinecones

Well, that's a nice surprise!

I need Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.

WFMW Toy Edition: Wedgits - a fantastic building toy.

A daring adventure....

Saturday in Boulder - the afternoon

Saturday in Boulder - the morning

Leaving on a jet plane - for my little Bookworms

Minor details.

My Thirty-Second Birthday

Narration of Charlotte Mason's original works: Volume 5, Section 5

Today and the never-ending To Do list.

We've been busy

200th post

Relaxed foreign language education

All by himself....

Narration of Charlotte Mason's original works: Volume 5, Section 4

4. Dorothy Elmore's Achievement (in 5 chapters)

Weird sleeping arrangements

Expeditionary Learning

Fastest Chef in the ... well, in this kitchen

School 2008-2009

A day... a pretty good day...

Narration: Bible - Tower of Babel

Because I am ThoughtfulMom: A public service announcement

To think on: Why did she run away?

To think on: Am I doing enough? (Heaven and Hell)

Narration: Noah's Ark

Some days just don't turn out like you think they will

But Mommy....

Because they are cute....

Our day in pictures

Narration: Bible - Adam and Eve

My little connoisseur

It's July!