Twin Firs Adventure: Broken Water Pipe

Ahh...the weekend.  Time to kick back, watch some football, eat some good food...

Not at Twin Firs.  The weekend is when Mark digs deep and finds one more spark of energy to get things done.  He spent the week leaving before we were awake and coming home after we were asleep.  He had double surveys every day and was exhausted.  As soon as Friday rolled around, Mark was busy pulling shelves away from the walls in the carport, preparing to pressure wash.  He had paint chips from the hardware store so we could decide on a trim and soffit color.

Our house color is called Chocolate Sprinkles.  What goes better with chocolate sprinkles? Vanilla cream or shrimp cocktail?  "You can't pick a paint color based on its name!" Mark says to me. We could go with what the paint chip flyer recommends: snorting elk.  Just kidding! Its Mountain Elk, but that color is too dark for the soffit. Grandad would have loved chocolate sprinkles on his shrimp cocktail, so that is our choice-so far (so much for not picking a color based on its name).

While we are waiting for the carport to dry out, Mark heads on down to the well house to get that pressure washed.  He uses the weed eater to trim away the grass along the foundation and sees.....water bubbling up from under ground. 

He digs down and finds the join in the first bend of the pipe is warped and water is just gushing out.  The ground around the well house is completely saturated.  Who knows how long it has been leaking?  One thing is for sure: Mark is no longer thinking about paint chips.  If fact, he tells me clear the paint chips off the bricks, he is going to the hardware store.  I wish we would have discovered the leak before I was there earlier in the day! Our water gets turned off until the leak is fixed.

My awesome man got the leak fixed by 8:00 this morning and had the well house pressure washed by 8:30.  He said, "There must be something wrong with me because I didn't stay up until it was fixed last night."  We have our water back, but I am very aware that I am not at all prepared for the upcoming power outages this winter.  I had no drinking water, no clean dishes, no clean laundry, no milk, and no juice.  I had dirty kids, thirsty kids, and a counter that needed a good swipe with a dishrag.  It's time to be an ant and get ready for winter!

T is for Turtle Club

My week started out less than stellar.  When God commanded us to rest one day per week, he meant it!  With all I do, I needed a little down time before this week started. I didn't get it.  Mark is "in the field" from before sunup until after sundown all week long this week and is unavailable for the daily, "If you want dinner, come hold the baby!" cry.  By Monday, I needed to follow Thomas Jefferson's advice when he said, "When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on!"  I really needed something to inspire me.  Ian came to the rescue...

The Turtle Club

It all started with a surprise package from our cousin in Pennsylvania.  One of the package items was Bendaroos, which the kids immediately turned into turtles following the template instructions. Soon after, Ian created Turtle Club.  The goal of Turtle Club is to have fun!  And it just happened to be T week for Fiona, so it all just fit so perfectly! 

Ian may be more reserved in public, but he is a strong leader at home.  He organizes all sorts of activities and clubs that his siblings join.  At ten years of age, he should be growing out of the cuter things (like Turtle Club) and growing into things like tomahawk throwing...or something manly like that.  He is already interested in politics and current events which has lead to discussions on the differences between conservatives and liberals and how they view issues.  Ian is not my needy insecure baby anymore and before I know it, he'll be grown up and gone like his sisters before him... that thought was all I needed to become an Honorary Member of Turtle Club.

My first order of business was to surprise the club with a gift:

Turtle snack

I made a snack in the shape of a turtle.  The body is a pear half, the head is an apricot, and the feet are dried cherries.  I almost didn't make them.  I thought the kids might think they were stupid or not realistic enough.  Oh, if I only had cloves for eyes and something leafy for a design on its shell...as it stood, there was no way my turtles would ever make it into Family Fun magazine!  Maybe I should get online and find a better turtle-themed snack.  But they loved it! Ian and Shane exclaimed how awesome they were and how I was the greatest mom and thanked me so much.  And my heart refilled with joy! 

Today we had peanut butter and jelly in the shape of a turtle (I used a sand mold that I found out in the yard-don't worry, I ran it through the dishwasher first).  And the surprise dessert was a...

Jello-fish!

 ...a big giant jellyfish!  I mixed up some gelatin (I buy it by the pound) with white grape juice in a large mixing bowl, let it set overnight, and turned it over on a plate.  It really looked like a jellyfish!

The lessons I learned are:

• Don't let Family Fun magazine dictate what your children will think is fun and/or awesome. 
• Look in new places for inspiration like your kids!
• Keep the daily schedule open to make room for children's creativity
• Don't let anyone (myself included) tell your kids when they should or should not "grow up"

Painting Part Two

The fun began as soon as Mark got home from his trip to the hardware store.  The color he chose is called Chocolate Sprinkles.  I love it!

My job was to follow along behind Mark and the boys and fill in the cracks and other spots they missed.

Ian rolled.

Evie's job was to take pictures-a job she thoroughly enjoyed!  After the battery died and I had to go in and take care of Lula, she got to help with painting too.  All the pictures on this post are Evie's.  Except the last one!

 Shane filled the cracks and helped Daniel paint for the few minutes he was allowed out of the house.

Mark, Ian, and Shane worked really hard to get the entire house painted in one day.  I didn't think it could be done, but with the boys helping, Mark was able to get the entire house painted by dark!  Ian and Shane deserve a lot of credit; they worked harder today than they ever have before.  On a side note, they went to a Sons of the American Revolution meeting with Mark yesterday.  Because they were dressed in Scout uniforms, they got to lead the flag ceremony at the beginning of the meeting!  When Mark described it to me, I got tears in my eyes.  These boys make their mama proud.

The picture above shows the difference between the pressure-washed house and the new paint.  The light is a little funky thanks to the wildfire smoke particles in the air.

This picture is in shadow, so it better represents the actual color.  The trim around the windows will be a  darker shade of brown.

And this is what happens when Fiona and Daniel are left unattended in the house while the rest of us work.  They find the camera and take many strange pictures!  As I mentioned above, we did let them out of the house temporarily.  Daniel the worker wanted to paint the house so badly.  We figured he couldn't do any damage that couldn't be rolled out, so we gave him a brush and showed him how to cover the red spots.  Fiona's job was to sit next to Lula (who was in her car seat carrier) and keep her happy.  When Daniel stopped listening I hauled him back in the house, kicking and screaming, over my shoulder.  He wore me out this weekend and I am not looking forward to the upcoming week.

New Project: Painting

Our house has been in desperate need of a paint job.  Any time anyone leaned up against the house, a fine red powder rubbed off on their clothes, skin, or fur.  Jack the Pirate came in pink sometimes!  The house was stained red and all that remained clinging to the siding was the pigment particles!

We've been talking about painting for a few years now, so I shouldn't have been surprised when Mark came out of his office on Thursday and started pressure washing the house.

Daniel was really cute.  He said, "Is that blood?"

Mark couldn't hog the fun toys all to himself.  He had to let Ian and Shane play too!

All I can say is I'm glad I never got around to finishing my window washing job (I washed one window the day before Lula was born).  The house has never been so clean, but my windows have never been so dirty!

And neither has my husband!

Now all we need is paint.  Lots of paint.  And lots of time.

What About Lula?

With all the exciting homeschool activities going on around here, sometimes the everyday occurrences are overlooked.  I'm sure the novelty of school will wear off soon...

Fiona Fawning

Lula is now 10 weeks old and still qualifies as my easiest baby ever.  She fills our hearts with joy with her sweet smiles and little coos.  Her brothers and sisters adore her and I constantly hear, "Can I hold the baby?" and "No, I'M holdin' Lula!" Can you guess who that is? Yes, Daniel "holds" Lula several times a day and is very attentive.  I feel sorry for her future boyfriends-if Daniel lets her have any.

My Baby Holding My Baby

Lula is the most undemanding baby with the simplest needs.  I'm used to needing to nurse and rock and pace and snuggle a baby to sleep.  Lula still won't nurse-her only need is to NOT nurse.  So all I have to do is feed her a bottle of pumped breast milk, swaddle her, and put her in her crib.  She falls asleep on her own and sleeps all night long.  She has been waking up once every night needing a bottle, but really-that's not bad considering the five or more times I was up at night with Ian as a baby.  I have been co-sleeping and night-nursing for ten straight years and I tell you, this bottle-feeding, crib-sleeping feels wrong.  But this is what works for her and I have to accept it... although Mark and I still insist to each other that we are holding the sleeping baby and the other one has to go (fill in the blank with a child's need).  Because all she does is eat and sleep and hardly burns any calories, she is growing huge quickly!  At ten weeks old, she is already wearing the 3-6 months size of clothes.

Left unattended for a moment on the footstool, she falls asleep.

She is so easy going.  I pack her (and her bottles) up for all our adventures.  She bumped along for corn and blueberry picking and hiking too.  I have mourned, and still do mourn, the loss of a normal breastfeeding relationship, but having the ability to just pull a bottle out of my pack and keep walking has been a refreshing change.  Needing to pump at regular intervals forces me to not be gone from our home for longer than four (or so) hours.  And I really don't mind.  I've spent a few years marathoning on the road and this life style is not good for our family.  I need to be here, not taking my kids to one mindless activity to the next.

God's Little Lesson: Life is Beautiful (that's what her shirt says)

I feel like God has packaged up the perfect life lesson in this precious little girl.  She is a reward for taking a huge step of faith and her personality forces me to stop. slow down. and focus on what truly matters.  It is easy to leave her in her head-flattening device (the baby seat) and get things, done, done, done.  It is hard to put those things aside and remember to give thanks for all of life's precious moments.

Manny

I'm not sure what the kids call the praying mantis, but I call it Manny.  Manny was spotted by Ian and captured by Shane in our garden yesterday.  Manny has been a great science lesson.  The kids have learned:

• Praying mantises are not a native species (how it got in the garden is a mystery!).  
• Praying mantises use camouflage and are ambush predators
• They can move their heads 180 degrees.
• Insects have three body parts: head, thorax, and abdomen
• Insects have six legs that come out of the thorax
• Manny "plays dead" when threatened

Waiting for its prey (a fly in the corner)

We abandoned our regularly scheduled schoolwork (schoolwork is for when there is nothing more exciting to do, right?) to spend some time observing Manny. The kids drew pictures (as detailed as their ability allows) and wrote about praying mantises (also according to ability). 

Fly Captured!

This has been an awesome side project for our homeschool.  He is living in one of our many bug habitats and the kids capture flies for his meals.  When grammar came along, surprise! a new spelling rule was introduced (when a noun ends in consonant and y, change the y to i and add es to form the plural).  I hope I won't see "flys" in their writing anymore.

Mmmm....Lunch!

The Million Dollar Question

Cub Scout popcorn sales have started up again, along with all the associated politics.  This is our absolute least favorite part of scouting.  I can't say enough bad things about the way our pack handles popcorn sales, so I won't even start by saying one.  Selling popcorn has been a great way to teach our boys real life skills-competition, cheating, fudging-and how to handle it.

This picture of our white board shows why we are SO DONE selling popcorn this year and some other scout can have the rest of our shifts.  We've calculated how much we've gotten credit for selling (note that does not say how much we've sold), what percent of the total needed to cover are dues the sales equal, and what the cash balance would be.  We owe $50 if we quit now, or we can keep selling to make the balance.  The important lesson the boys learned today was the associated costs of selling popcorn: gas driving to and from the site, the cost of buying lunch or snacks at the gun show, plus the time the parent wastes sitting there instead of getting important tasks accomplished at home.

Fiona's Lightbulb Moment

Over the course of two days, Fiona has figured out the basics of reading and writing.  She wrote CAT on her Magna-doodle and said, "C, A, T. Cat! See?"  Then she...

...and within a few hours, she read Book #1 of Fun Tales.  I'm so proud of her!

Cuneiform Cookies

Can you think of a better way to learn about the first writings?  (It says Cookies YUM!)

Science and Real Life

 This is how my thought process worked yesterday:

Chopping celery and onion for tonight's soup reminds me that I need to make some slides for tomorrow's biology lesson on plant cells.  I get out old slides that have blood and pond scum from last year, wash them, and prepare new onion skin and celery cross-section slides.  Then I finish chopping the celery and onion and toss them in the crock pot.

During the lesson I have a sleeping baby in my arms, but I still manage to get the nucleus in focus and teach what needs to be taught.  The best part was having all the knowledge of how to make the slides, work the microscope, etc. packed away in my brain...that science degree really comes in handy sometimes!

As easy as science is for me, there are other subjects that overwhelm me...like writing!

Bountiful Blessings

Fiona has a letter of the week.  This week, she is learning B.  She already knows B, but I'm using this as an opportunity to randomly show words that start with B and have a B sound in the middle.

Like SilverBow Farm.  We also happen to be learning about the first peoples and how nomads settled down in the Fertile Crescent to be farmers in history.

Today we were Blessed to share in the Bounty of SilverBow farm's corn crop.  I called it a field trip because we were to Be farmers for a day!

We went to this farm last year with the church's preschool play program to visit pumpkin patch (that was a lot of Ps!).  The lady who runs the farm was impressed with Ian last year and let him drive the quad!  He was pleased to help out again this year!  We picked corn:

 Lots and lots of corn!  And then we took it back to....

...the garage where we...

 ...shucked...

 ...blanched...

 ...cut the corn off the cob...

 ...and packed the corn into bags...

 ...meanwhile chowder was being made with ingredients fresh-picked from the garden and salmon pulled from the freezer labeled "Blue Moon King."  Her husband caught the salmon on the blue moon last month!  Have you ever heard of a tastier sounding soup?

 The kids were very helpful when we were picking and shucking, but boiling water, sharp knives, and kids don't mix too well.  They got busy...

...eating the raw corn!  Oh, what a heavenly sweet corn!  The corn wasn't our only blessing.  While we were cleaning up, we were told of another picking opportunity...

...Blueberries!  The Bushes have grown wild, so the kids and I Bushwhacked our way through (with Lula in the front-pack), trying to avoid Blackberries.  My smarty-pants kids said things like, "We were farmers, now we are going backwards and foraging wild berries!"

When we were finally tired (okay, when Daniel and Lula were tired) we packed up and came home.  Our grand total was twenty pounds of corn ready for the freezer and five gallon bags of blueberries.  All organic and for the price of our labor.  What an awesome experience!