Peek-a-boo Porridge

 Once upon a time, during the depression of the 1930's, there was a little boy about Fiona's age who would not eat his porridge.  To encourage him to eat his porridge, his grandmother buried a spoonful of jam at the bottom of the bowl.  This was to entice him to eat to the bottom of the bowl for the sweet reward.  She called it Peek-a-boo porridge and who knows? Maybe it worked on her when she was a little girl!  That little boy was smart (he was, after all, Grandad), so he just dug straight down, ate the jam, and left the porridge.  Grandad didn't change much.  He knew that if he came out to the kitchen during breakfast, I would force a nice, healthy bowl of hot porridge into his hands (instead of the sweet muffin he desired).  He would pick at it while he told us the story of the peek-a-boo porridge his grandmother made him. 

I haven't made Peek-a-boo Porridge since he passed away.  This morning was a perfect morning for it-the oatmeal was overcooked and needed something special.  The smile on IJ's face when he realized it was Peek-a-boo was priceless.  And Daniel? He quickly followed in his grandad's footsteps and dug straight to the bottom of his bowl.

Pacific Science Center IMAX

To finish off our astronomy unit, the kids and I headed to the Pacific Science Center.  We were so happy that M was able to take a day off work and come with us!  (I think he made it a priority when I informed him I would be sending the three older kids into the planetarium alone-kids under 4 are not allowed.)  We arrived at the science center in time to see the movie, but the ticket booth did not have our purchase order from the school and needed us to check in at a different gate.  They were kind enough to let us in without payment so we wouldn't miss the IMAX film: Hubble 3D.  From the science center website: "Through the power of IMAX 3D, Hubble 3D will take you on a journey through distant galaxies to explore the grandeur and mysteries of our celestial surroundings, and accompany space-walking astronauts as they attempt the most difficult and important tasks in NASA's history. This film, one of the most popular ever screened at Pacific Science Center, offers an inspiring and unique look into the Hubble Space Telescope's legacy and highlights its profound impact on the way we view the universe and ourselves."

Pillars of Creation: Nebula, Hubble Image

I guess I should have known this was a 3D movie by the title, but I wasn't really thinking about it until they handed us the glasses. The movie had already started and the theater was pitch dark.  We had to stand on the side until there was enough light in space for us to find seats.

The 3D effects were awesome.  I loved watching the kids (all the kids in the theater, not just mine) try to reach for stars as we traveled through the universe.  The absolute best part was the launching of the space shuttle Atlantis, which happened exactly three years ago today.  The room shook with the noise of the engines and I felt like I was actually there (except I wasn't being burned to a crisp).  I was completely awed at the experience and wished with my whole heart that I could have brought Grandad to see this before he passed away.  He loved space and kept up with all the current events in space exploration with his numerous astronomy magazine subscriptions.

I've seen this called the God's Eye Nebula

If you get a chance to visit the science center, go see this movie!  There is no better way to peer in to God's majestic creation and experience that His ways are not our ways.  He gave us these magnificent brains, complex enough to build the equipment necessary to survive trips into space, yet we still can't understand the whys and hows of little Planet Earth.

The rest of the day was fun too.  We ate lunch outside (and watched our boys chase pigeons), played in the game exhibit (the boys finally got to play the big chess game), walked through the bug exhibit (D loved the giant motorized bugs, "Bye-bye bugs!"), saw the butterflies, and enjoyed the dinosaurs.  The kids have been playing dinosaurs out in the dirt all week, so D called out, "Di-sor!" and wasn't scared at all.  We got out of there before traffic and had an uneventful drive home.  We can't wait to go back and see King Tut in the fall!

Christmas Adam Survivor

Here it is, midnight on Christmas 'Adam,' and IJ and I are the last remaining two awake.  We (the kids and I) are continuing our sleep over tradition...minus a few people.  Reading last year's post made me a little sad.  Grandad loved our old Christmas movies.  Reading the post from the year before was fun.  I still haven't finished D's stocking...

Together Forever

At the base of the Twin Firs, for which we named our home, and where M scattered the ashes of his parents, bloomed a Thanksgiving rhododendron.  Two blooms, two hearts, together forever in peace.

D at 18 Months

Can you believe Baby D is 18 months old today?  No longer a baby, he is a full blown toddler.  He is starting to say more words, and less "Da."  He says bye, moon (mn), horse (ahs), orange (ahs), banana (nana), milk (mkna), Peek-a-boo (baba!), bellybutton (baba!), dog and yuck.  He knows all his family members, but they all sound like nana when he says their names.  He still looks for Grandad when he goes in his room, which always makes me sad.  He buzzes at bees and crows at roosters and makes monkey noises.  He can point to his head, hair, ear, eye, nose, mouth, bellybutton, foot, bottom, and (ahem) his little boy part.  He signs outside, water, airplane, and boots.  And today he said, "Choo choo!"  The first sounds in this video are his word for milk, the smacky mkna sound.

He throws his dishes on the floor when he is finished eating.  When I pull him out of the high chair and put him on the floor, he picks up his dishes and throws them in the sink.  He puts his banana peels by the sink.  He throws diapers in the garbage (he uses disposables at night).  He jumps off the couch.  He puts the oven mitt on his hand and opens the oven (when it's cold).

Those eyes hypnotize the mama monster

He says, "mama," which is music to my ears.  Unless it's first thing in the morning and I want to sleep.  He likes to wake me up by belly flopping on my face and pinching me.  This morning I said, "Go find Daddy.  Daddy.  Go find Daddy!"  He just wriggles on my face and pulls my hair and says, "Mama! Mama! Mama!"  I say, "Go make me some coffee!" and he cries.  So I have to say, "Do you want an egg?" and he says, "Egg! Egg! Egg!"

He isn't very good at playing on his own.  He prefers to be the center of attention and cries if he sees someone else on my lap.  E tells him, "Don't worry.  You'll learn that there is always enough love for everyone."  He sits on the couch with his brothers while watching Pokemon but keeps his eye on S so he can laugh when S does.  He loves music and has figured out how to turn on the school CD player and listen to Latin songs.

He is right on track for the terrible twos.  We can't keep the books on the shelves anymore. I can't wait!

Family Gathering

We miss Grandad terribly; he was such a huge part of our day-to-day life.  I find myself stopping outside his door to tell him about the latest cute thing that D can do (he is picking up sign language so fast!) or, when the cousins were here, how much fun the kids just had doing... well, I can just show you ten days worth of pictures.  That will tell you the story of our vacation!

The Pond

The afternoon of August 8, I took the kids down to the pond.  Grandad's passing didn't effect the kids as heavily as it effected the adults.  I felt like I was in some surreal world sitting down there at the pond, watching the kids splash around like nothing tragic had happened that morning.

Cousins M and K, my 13 and 11 year old nieces, got to swing off the rope swing, paddle on the boards, and spend time hanging out with the cousins they haven't seen since 2008!

Isn't this strange how this picture turned out?  IJ was the most impacted, although he keeps reminding us that Grandad has been freed from his body's prison and has been reunited with his wife.  He tells me he feels their spirits.

Time With Uncle Opie

 Uncle Opie and I took the seven kids to the beach while M and his sister took care of business.

IJ was missing his dad, but he found great company with his uncle.  Here they are watching deer in the pasture with binoculars!

 One of the greatest things he did while visiting, was take care of a little over-population problem I have...

 He taught IJ how to hypnotize a chicken so she will stay still...

 ...long enough to chop her head... Grandad always stressed the importance of teaching the kids how to kill and butcher a chicken.

 IJ said, "I don't really like killing chickens.  I did it for Grandad.  I don't mind butchering though."  I'm sure Grandad watched from heaven and was proud of him. 

And I hope he was proud of me!  I killed and butchered this turkey (almost) all by myself!  It weighed out at 30 pounds, dressed!  The males were so large I would never be able to fit them in the oven!  So, into the freezer quartered they went.

General Fun

 How can you have summer visitors without a campfire and marshmallows?  You can't!

 Lovely Cousin K had a great time being the older sister, for once. 

 And my little girls absolutely loved their cousins too!  They already miss them!  M and K were so patient with the little girls, who often forgot their bedroom wasn't theirs anymore.

Mealtimes were a blast with seven kids wrapped around the counter (in age order-to keep things simple).  The only problem?  We were one chair short, so whoever was last to the counter had to stand.

The Service

 At one time, Grandad was the last D family member...and now look at his descendents!

 His nine grandchildren.  

It was strange to be taking pictures at the service.  I recorded the military honors, but I also tried to capture some tender moments between family members.  Can you imagine if I would have missed capturing...

  ...these sweet moments between people who love each other dearly?

Grandad

1931-2011

Grandad passed away this morning after spending four days in intensive care.  He was able to visit with his daughter and her family and his two oldest granddaughters before slipping away.  I was also able to spend time with him.  M was there for his dad through the end.  It was a privilege and an honor to know and care for this great man. 

Sun Tea

If my feelings turn to blue,

I toss some happy in my stew,

And slurp it up without a spoon,

And gaze out at the milky moon.

~ Baby Einstein: Baby Van Gogh

Grandad is really sick today.  His congestive heart failure is beating the cancer.  Did you know it is possible to be dehydrated and be so filled with fluid that you can drown, all at the same time?  And did you know it is very hard to get a person to drink when they are suffering the psychological effects of drowning?  He is very weak and we are anxious to get him back in the hospital to drain the fluid from where it's not supposed to be and put some good hydration where he needs it.  Tomorrow morning can't come fast enough.

I wanted some sun tea, but my closed up little mind couldn't think past the fact that my sun tea container's spigot leaks.  And I don't want tea leaking all over the place.  In one tiny little flash, I realized duh... I don't need a special sun tea jar from WalMart.  I can use my canning jars.  They are the perfect size for a single serving.

I once told A, my grown-up daughter, that if she ever caught me using jars for drinking glasses she can haul me out to the pasture and shoot me (and for the record, I typed the word "catched" instead of "caught" and wondered why I spelled it wrong.  Yep, I have a tiny little brain today.  Or I spend a lot of time talking to a three year old).  I told her this when I was recycling the glass jar collection that had accumulated over the years... you know... because the jars might be useful for something...

...so don't tell her that I'm using my jars for sun tea, okay?

Homeschool Summer School

My good friend over at A Few of my Favorite Things just blogged about kids, learning, and how kids seem to need to learn all the time.  When they aren't learning, they dissolve into grumpy chaos.

We've had a long enough summer break over here.  How about you?

I've decided in the last week that I need to take a break from the parent partnership program that we have been a part of for 2 1/2 years.  It is nice having money for curriculum support, but the laws are changing to require more and more busy work for us with less and less funding.  The kids and I are spending way too much time jumping through bureaucratic hoops than we are actually learning.  So that means the system no longer works.  Especially at a time where I need to be able to focus on helping Grandad with his needs.  Packing up a ton of busy work workbooks to take to the hospital is not my idea of good learnin'.  But tossing a nice paperback classic and a few lined notebooks and reading out loud as a group in a waiting room is much better.  Plus, we look cool.

We are going to use Sonlight, which is a curriculum not supported by the PPP programs because of its non-secular views.  Which is a little exasperating because although the Instructor's Guides have a Christian viewpoint, the books they use are the very same books being used in the public school (classics, Newbery award winners, etc).  I understand state money not being used for the guides, but to toss out the books as well?  Weird.  We aren't allowed to purchase "library type books" anymore.

I thought about enrolling part time, so science, math, PE, and language arts curriculum would be supported and use my own money for history.  And one would think if you were enrolled 80% full time, you would get 80% of your funds.  Which would be "enrolling" for four classes instead of five.  But nope!  You get less than half if you enroll at 80%.  For four classes instead of five.  Isn't that a dirty trick? They will give me $1250 (half for kindergarten) per child if I enroll at 100% and spend a huge amount of time writing up reviews for 15 classes per month, but if I want to only write up 12 reviews, I only get $450.

Anyway, back to summer and kids and learning.  This morning, S asked me what the hardest math was.  I told him he will do Calculus before he is done with high school and that is the hardest for basic education.  They started boasting how they already know algebra and it was so easy.  "Yeah, four plus something is five.  That is so easy!"  I said, "What if you get something plus something equals four?  Then what do you do?"

 I'll tell you what I'd do... I'd pull out my white board and make them do math before breakfast!

This morning they learned about number lines, sticking two number lines together and naming them x and y and that mathematicians call those number lines axis (axes for more than one).  They figured out different values for x and y when the equaled four, including negative numbers.  And they learned how to plot those points on the graph.  And that is what they get for thinking they are so smart.  They get to find out there will always be someone smarter than they are...all the way to infinity!

First Camp Fire of the Season

D eagerly awaits...something.  What it is, he doesn't know!

Oh man, yesterday was awesome!  The weather was great, I got three load of laundry on the line, I worked outside with my poultry projects (see below) and I got to visit with friends while the boys were at a birthday party.  When we got home, we had our first campfire.

The ceremonial first flame!

We love our campfires.  There is nothing better than feeling like you live in a place where people could go on vacation...in fact, I'm always reminding myself we moved to our vacation spot.  We have wildlife, space, beauty, and peace and quiet...until the kids start talking.

Who wants a burned marshmallow?

As we waited for the perfect S'more making embers, the kids told dumb stories and I read out loud off the Kindle (I downloaded The Three Musketeers while sitting by the fire).  Then we did the best thing ever!

Grandad will eat the burned ones...and all the others too!

We hauled Grandad down to the fire in his wheelchair!!!  M tried to drive him down in the van, but Grandad had a hard time getting in the seat for some reason.  He can do it in the carport, but the backyard is different I guess.  The wheelchair was a bit bumpy, but walking backwards preventing him from pitching forward out of his chair.

After Grandad, M, and D headed back inside, I taught the kids some songs I learned when I was a kid at camp.  We counted stars and made wishes.  We watched bats.  These are my favorite memories.  I couldn't be happier.

My Hero

You know something dreadful had to have happened to keep me from blogging all week.  And it did.  We got the flu!  It began with E about 10 days ago.  D came down with the bug last Friday, just in time for the Cub Scout summer camping trip.  When IJ woke up Saturday morning and puked on the ground outside the tent, M drove him home to the sick ward and returned to camp with S.  I came down with it Sunday night.  And Grandad has been sick the whole time, although where the chemo side effects end and the virus begins, no one knows.

Cranberry

M is my hero.  He not only took care of us (both sick and well), he managed to juggle my job, his job, his dad's needs, and his Cub Scout duties too!  Last night was our Crossover ceremony, where the boys move up to the next level.  On the way home from the ceremony, M saw a raccoon killing a litter of kittens at the top of our driveway!  He stopped the car and he and S rescued the two kittens that managed to survive.  They brought them home, true heroes in Scout uniforms!  It was a sight to behold.  The kitties are now living with our neighbor until they are strong enough to find homes.

"See the bees?"

D is working really hard to cut molars now that he is done being sick.  He is still dehydrated and has intestinal upset, but those molars want out!  So he is being a big, big, PILL!  Thank goodness M can work from home and can take him for walks around the property.  He convinced me to come out and see the summer flowers too...and I'm glad.

Nootka Rose

Fairy Flowers

But now I'd like to go back to bed.

"Best Birthday Yet!"

Either IJ has really low expectations for his birthday, or he is just a swell kid.  This morning I had to wake everyone early, feed them the quickest, most filling breakfast, and take them and Grandad in to the hospital for scans/chemotherapy.  I couldn't tell the kids what we were going to do for fun today because I had no idea if I was going to have to wait at the cancer center all day or what.

But we got lucky!  We got to run quickly through the grocery store for picnic food, call a friend, and go the beach on a super low tide! As we pulled into the parking lot, we could see that other people had the same idea.  And the beach was open for clam digging!  We saw all the cars and S said, "Great. It's just like Hawaii here.  Crowded."

Yep.  It was packed.

Normally, the area in the picture above is all water.

Then I found out that Grandad was already finished with his chemotherapy and was waiting for me!  Our friend graciously offered to take the boys back to her place for more fun.

And video games

See the vacant expressions?  Haha! We girls sat out on the porch and enjoyed the sunshine, flowers, and chickens.

Then we did some of our own "jumping for joy" on the trampoline.  It was a fine day for jumping, wasn't it C?

And as IJ was sitting outside at home, using his pocket knife to whittle a stick, he said, "I feel so much older than I did yesterday."

Don't Panic! and other random cancer thoughts

Sleeping baby pictures always calm me down.  And why am I in a panic?  Because I have a lot to do, what else?  Having five kids keeps me busy.  Homeschooling five kids keeps me even busier.  Homeschooling five kids, feeding 49 poultry-birds, going to baseball games, and caring for Grandad makes me so busy I don't know what to do.  Now that M has injured his knee to the point I had to take him in to the ER and I don't have him to rely on because a man on crutches can't hold a baby or carry anything...well, you can say I'm ready to panic (and yes, I know that is a run-on sentence; it illustrates my point).

Grandad has radiation treatments in town every day.  Today he starts chemotherapy.  This is great news because a few weeks ago the doctor didn't think Grandad would be strong enough to withstand chemo.  A few weeks ago he almost died!  So we are thankful to be driving him back and forth every day.  Radiation takes about 15 minutes and is very easy for me to handle with all the kids.  We have a system, every one has a job, and the people in the waiting room love watching the kids play.

Cancer is such a weird, scary thing.  While I sit in the waiting room at the cancer center, I feel a connection to everyone else sitting there.  We are all waiting...waiting to see if our loved ones will survive...and it is stressful!  I'm thankful for the 15 minutes of childishness my kids bring into that room.  They scamper and play and exclaim about the fish and say funny things and chase D around and remind us all how precious life is.

So, as I read one of my favorite poems (Babies Don't Keep), I get my focus back into place and get ready to seize the day!

Happy (Belated) Earth Day!

I totally forgot yesterday was Earth Day...good thing I have friends that remind me of things!  So since I was busy thinking about other things (mostly Grandad related), I had a normal kind of D Family day.  We did schoolwork:

The boys are assembling Native American History Pockets while E plays with paper dolls.  Whenever the sun shines, we have a hard time finishing things...

The love that their uncle is Tlingit!

... so we headed outside when M got home from Grandad's latest appointment.  We will finally know how far the cancer has spread and what can be done by the middle of next week.  Prayers are much appreciated!

Pileated Woodpecker

Baseball fever has infected IJ.  I'm glad that he has become enthusiastic enough to go out and play and haul his siblings along with him:

"2,4,6,8..."

And we played baseball together!  What fun to have enough people!

Even the dumb dog played!