E is Five

Yesterday my little girl turned 5 years old!  We had a small party with a few friends (and their older brothers).  A small party for us is 12 kids and 4 moms.  I pulled out MA's china set and had coffee in style with the moms.  The boys were set loose outdoors and kept themselves busy with forts and pine cone fights and archery until I hollered, "Ice Cream!" out the window.  The girls and babies were quiet and content playing indoors with E's presents.  What a perfect day.

And today, now that she is five, she can read!  We are on Lesson 13 and E read her first short story.  This girl is dynamite!  I am going to love homeschooling her.  She is so smart and quick and capable. God has entrusted me with this wonderful child to raise; this is a task that I won't take lightly.

Diaper Dude

D is busy busy busy.  He is crawling all over the house.  He is pulling himself to standing on anything that is stationary for two seconds.  He is dancing when he hears music.  He makes coughing sounds at Grandad.  He is using the toilet every morning when he wakes up (I haven't changed a dirty diaper for three days).  Every day has been the best day of his life.  Here he is, modeling some cutie-patootie diapers:

The Beach Bum

Beach Bum was made from flannel scraps I pieced together.  Total cost was about 75 cents.

Pumpkin Grunge: A flannel shirt paired with a thermal diaper makes a perfect imitation of the look that was so popular when I was a teenager.  The inside of the diaper is made from an old sheet and is fraying terribly.  The frayed edges really add to the grungy look!  Total cost was about 5 or 10 cents!

I've Been Working on the Railroad

Looks like F stood still for too long!  This diaper is made from a bandanna.  The best part (for the squeamish): No Pins!  I just tied it on real good.

Today D is cutting his second tooth.  He was up a lot last night and is running a low fever.  He is clingy and whiny.  And I have five moms and 12 kids scheduled to come over for cake and ice cream in one hour...

The Three R's of Thanksgiving

 

Recover, Resist, Repent

 "I don't know what you guys are moaning about.  This stuff is GREAT!"

Turkey Day

Highlights from our day were L and Big S's visit, reading IJ and S's Thanksgiving poetry before dinner, and working side-by-side with my dear husband in the kitchen to prepare our Thanksgiving meal.

We once again had turducken instead of regular turkey (hopefully this will be the last time).  This year IJ helped me make succotash, a recipe that we found in his history activity book.

D loved his mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes and really loved his turkey bone!

Cold is Cool

Scandinavian Babies are Cool

Icicles are Cool

Being a Mom is Cool

D Cuts a Tooth

No wonder D had me up so much the other night!  And no wonder I couldn't put him down yesterday without protest!  And no wonder he couldn't stay asleep when he was napping!  I thought it was just his stuffy nose and loud siblings.  But it was his first tooth.

I had completely lost my mind by yesterday afternoon, so anyone who started or participated in any conflict, especially with F, would go straight to their room.  I didn't care whose room it was, just one of theirs and not the one I was sitting in!  M sent me to bed after the kids last night and I'm glad I listened to him.  D had me awake again at 5:00 this morning.

My Pathetic Snow

You know it is time to build a fire when The Pathetic Doberman curls up in front of the heat vent to keep warm.

The Safeway Deli: Off the Grid

"Do we really have to come out?"

The chickens were not as thrilled as usual to be let out this morning.

Finally camouflaged: Dirty Snow

This hen is named Egg Eater.  She came to our "Chick-Shadel" rehabilitation center with the name Sweet Pea and an egg-eating problem.  Since she has moved in, she has stopped eating the eggs and has become a good layer.  We joked that she would be the one that was taken down by a coyote first because she stands out in the pasture with all those white feathers.  But she's pretty mean; I would feel sorry for any animal that would try to eat her!  She'll jump on me if she thinks I have food.

"We didn't live to be two years old by running out in the cold when there is a perfectly good heat lamp indoors!"

Chief and Mate also came to Chick-Shadel with a problem: fighting.  They are now so sweet and docile that they will eat out of my hand.  I'll be very sad when I have to eat them.  Maybe.

This morning when my hands got cold doing chores, I pulled two nice, warm, freshly-laid eggs out of the nests

and tucked them in my pockets to keep my hands warm on the way back to the house.  Then I cooked them up and ate them!  Yum!

Now, on to my other chickens:

F has no memory of snow, so this is all new to her.  She knew that it was snow, but she didn't know that it was so cold.  She would not walk on it.

A Cute Couple... of Hats!

These two are wearing hats crocheted by one of our friends and fellow Scout leaders.  She made D's hat for him when he was born, along with matching booties and a stuffed sock monkey!  They are so cute!  And because F kept stealing D's hat and monkey, our friend made F her very own sock monkey hat.

Here's a link to other snow suit pictures.  I love getting a good deal on things I buy.  I choked paying $25 for this snow suit when IJ was a baby, even though it had been marked down from $100 at REI (who would pay $100 for a baby's snow suit?).  But now I've gotten nine years of use out of it, so that's not too bad. 

2003: IJ wore the suit for two years

 S in 2004

 E on her first birthday in 2006

And you can see F in the link above.  And in this picture:

We've been dealing with a lot of this lately.  Crying, whining, temper tantrums, that sort of thing.  She is my most...passionate? dramatic? two year old yet.  I'm glad she wasn't the first two year old!  And D has a stuffy nose and was up a LOT last night, so I'm pretty tired today without a lot of patience.  So maybe I'll take a snow day off from school after all.

Rainy Day Leaf Collecting Field Trip?

"Please, Mom.  Collect with us!"

Today I had planned on taking the kids out for a nature walk and collecting autumn leaves for an art project.  I came across the art project in a art curriculum book that I had purchased and forgot about.  Yes, I've gotten to that point.  I've accumulated enough homeschool curricula that I can no longer remember what I own (and I have more on the way-another joy of the large, homeschooling family).

But it was raining too hard for me.  We got drenched, the leaves were drenched, and S still hadn't finished working on his assignments by the time we got back.  I tried motivating him to finish with a stick-taking his Pokemon cards away for the weekend.  He only cried and cried and cried.  So then I tried a carrot- offering him a brand new Pokemon card if he quit his bawling and hurried up already!!!

And when I opened the new pack (because I was being sneaky-I didn't want S to know that I had a whole new pack of cards), I came across:

"I'd love to collect with you..."

Arceus Level X!  One of the two cards that S has been hoping for!  And it's all mine!  Because I've decided to collect Pokemon cards too...and teach them how to trade...and not get taken advantage of...and give them away as motivators...

We Survived...

...two disasters at once: F being sick with a fever of 103 and a 24 hour power outage.  Our computers didn't fare so well.  One is off the network or has a fried hard drive or something.  Only M knows.  Which is why I'm lucky to be blogging; I can't remember my passwords without my password program!

F was sick was a fever for three days.  She is still a little whiny and has a cough, but she is no longer hot.  I'm thankful I didn't have to take her and the five other kids (mine plus our "adopted" kid) to the doctor!

And the cherry on top was losing our power for 24 hours.  A power outage to me is no big deal.  I don't have to do laundry, dishes, or vacuum.  I can knit and read and play games to my heart's content.  Losing power is harder on other members of my family.  They can't run the space heater or use the computer.  The kids survived by playing flashlight hide n' seek and "camping" in the tent set up by the wood stove.  I couldn't cook a nasty healthy breakfast for them, so they had to eat cake (fooled them-ha!).

How To Survive Extra Children

I've "adopted" IJ's best friend for the next few days while his parents go out of town.  Our friend is a wonderfully boisterous 8 year old with more energy and enthusiasm than both of my boys put together.  He has been here for five hours so far.

And so far I've learned to 1) Let them pick the menu and then go shopping.  I won't have to hear, "I don't like this.  Can I have something else?"  2) I have to stay in the room and mediate everything.  Our friend is an only child coming to stay in a house full of siblings who get in the middle of everything.  3) Make sure they do only one thing at a time and they clean up their old activity before they start their new activity.

So far the boys have played Risk, Monopoly, and Battleship.  They've watched three movies and built a fort out of couch cushions and pillows.  They built boats out of milk cartons and plastic 2 Liter bottles.  They took IJ's remote control boat out on the pond (and fell in).  They ate lunch somewhere in there. 

Mark and I do really enjoy having this boy over.  He is a lot of fun, he is kind to IJ's siblings, and respects the rules and boundaries... as long as the rules and boundaries are in place. I'm sure we are going to have lots of fun this week!

Veteran's Day = No School

What can you do when there is no school?

Ask IJ-ardo D-Vinci!

Or his little sister, Mona E-sa, who sat patiently and modeled for her brother.

Good Morning from the 5 Acres

Ode to Ginger

This morning I found my favorite hen, Ginger, with life-ending injuries.  We named her after the chicken pictured above because she was always finding a way out of the chicken run. But not this time!

Picture taken last month, while Ginger's head was still firmly attached.

She was the funniest chicken.  She was the one that tried to come inside after we had let them free range.  She had no fear of us (or the dog).

Ginger, taking IJ's apple core

I assumed she was attacked by a raccoon.  And I was right.  The Pathetic Doberman was on the trail within a second of finding Ginger's remains.

Chasing the now-cold trail

When IJ and I went to go check the mail, we found some compelling evidence:

Cat prints to the far left, dog print at the top heading to the right, and raccoon right of center.  Big raccoon!

IJ points out the raccoon prints

 The kids are convinced that Ginger is up in heaven, hanging out with the angels and wondering why Kenny didn't save her.  Grandad is mourning the loss of a good piece of meat.  We are going to have a little wake tonight at dinner time in honor of Ginger.  We are going to have ginger chicken and rice for dinner.  Now that's a memory!

Teaching E

The video captures one of those precious moments exclusive to a large, homeschooling family.  In any other "normal" family, an 8 year old boy wouldn't let his little sister hang out across his lap while teaching the other to read. 

E is now all signed up to have her educational expenses reimbursed, starting after her 5th birthday.  Because she is an "old" student and quite sharp (like her sister A), we decided starting her "Kindergarten" year early was a good idea.  I spent part of the weekend doing what us homeschoolers like to do most: drooling over homeschool curriculum.  One would think that by now I would know exactly what I want, but I don't. 

Teaching E will be a new adventure.  She is naturally intelligent and has picked up enough from her brothers that I've heard her arguing with S over the definition of a noun.  She has memorized many of the addition facts, thanks to S quizzing her in the backseat of the van as we drive to and from activities.  And she is writing simple words, just because she wants to.  I've done a few Saxon K lessons with her and had to skip halfway through the book!  Oh, yes.  She will be fun!

9 Years and Counting...

Cute and Cozy in matching Costco jackets.

Yesterday marked the 9th anniversary of the day M and I said, "I do." (Awww...)  These past 9 years have been the best years of my life!  I am crazy about this guy!

Fairy Ring of Fungus

We went on a lovely morning hike around our property...our property! It seems like a crazy dream, going from renting a house in the development on the reservation to owning (ahem...having a mortgage on) our own property.  We found a perfect fairy ring in M's old fort site!

This tree was just a wee thing when Grandad transplanted it from outside what is now my bedroom window to down by the pond.

Instead of dropping the kids off with a babysitter and going out to an over-priced restaurant where M could slip me an expensive piece of jewelry... we worked, took the kids to swimming and soccer, and led a Cub Scout meeting.  We did what we do best!

And speaking of heartthrobs...

...I am madly loving this sweet baby.  He is scooting all over the floor and now he is trying to pull himself up the stairs!  I am so not ready for him to grow out of this baby age.  It's going by way too fast.  Today he started "singing" with a high-pitched voice.  And just when I decide he is old enough to fuss himself to sleep I can't stand to put him down.  I just want to hold him forever.  Which is why none of my kids slept on their own until they were two years old or so...

Grandad's New Car

Yesterday we traded in Grandad's old stick-shift station wagon for a new senior-friendly Honda CR-V.  The Pathetic Doberman is so upset she started chewing up stuffed animals again.  And Grandad forgot all about his new car by this morning and thought I had company!  "Yesterday was a blur to me," he said when he remembered he had a new car (and the monthly payment to go with it).

M spent months researching which vehicle would meet the most needs in our diverse household.  I wouldn't comment until I could sit in the driver's seat and look at how many people can fit in the backseat.

I have really long hair; it reaches my waist.  I can now tuck it into the back of my pants (which would probably be as embarrassing as walking out of the bathroom with TP stuck to my shoe).  One reason I have such long hair is because I don't really have the time to set up a baby sitter and set up an appointment to have a professional cut it.  The other is because M likes to tell me how pretty he thinks my hair is and I like the compliments.  What does this have to do with the new car?  Well, when I sat in the driver's seat of the CR-V and the headrest hit me right where my bun is located and my head was forced into an uncomfortable angle... and I said I didn't like the car because of the head rest... M snapped, "Cut your hair!"  I guess I'll be heading out to the beauty parlor now... and all my bee-yoo-tiful hair will be gone!  Mwa-ha-ha-ha!

Mr. Cute

This video is just for you Nana :)

Halloween 2010 Part 2

Guess who won the Halloween Costume Contest?

Perseus, that's who!  IJ was pleased to see that creative thinking and hard work pays off (at least in this case-selling popcorn for Cub Scouts is a different story).

This little angel was called a "cute little devil" by the newspaper photographer.  He's an older gentleman (who also serves as our charter organization for scouts) and has a short memory.  He took F's picture several times throughout the evening in different settings and kept asking me what her name and age was and if he had permission to put her photo in the paper. We'll see if she makes the Out and About section!

Eight years ago I made this costume:

And got to use it one more time this year:

Awww! I love my babies!