When Toddlers Eat Cake

"I can't believe I ate the whole thing!"

Genevieve's Tenth Birthday

Ten years old is a big milestone! Double Digits! To celebrate, we temporarily removed our sleepover ban and allowed Genevieve to have a slumber party.  Her grandparents, aunt, and cousin also came out for her special day!

Grandma and Jason

Everyone loves Aunt Tracey!

Where's Grandpa?

There he is!

Genevieve and her Friends

She had a fun night of presents, pizza and cake, a movie (or two or three), and pancakes for breakfast.  Genevieve has a great group of friends and we were happy to host them.

Thanksgiving

I have come to accept that Thanksgiving and the week leading up to Thanksgiving will never be just about Thanksgiving.  I will always be planning and preparing for two birthdays AND Thanksgiving.  So let the development of our non-traditional traditions of the holiday season commence!

Jason had his turn in the salad bowl Mark and I received as a wedding present.  We started this tradition when Ian was a baby, not knowing that he would have seven younger siblings following along behind him.  When we received the bowl, we laughed at how huge it was. (Who eats that much salad? It's so big we can put the baby in the bowl! Hey, let's put the baby in the bowl and take a picture!) Now that our family is so huge, we use it as ONE of our popcorn bowls as well as a photography prop.

The Assembly Line

We are pretty nontraditional, in case you haven't noticed (haha).  Mark cooks all the food from scratch and I'm pretty sure this was the best Thanksgiving turkey and stuffing yet!  I did spend a few minutes searching for cool recipes on Pinterest, but my contribution was opening cans of processed things.  After we read the Junie B Jones Thanksgiving book a few years ago, we've enjoyed adding "exploding biscuits" and "cranberry sauce in the shape of a can" to our menu.  Instead of putting all the food in serving dishes and bringing it to the table, we serve straight to plates, restaurant style.  This is just how a large family FUNctions with more small people than helpful people. (But I did do more than just open cans. Jason wakes up for the day around 5:00 AM, so I made four pies while waiting for the rest of the family to wake up)

With the middle kids helping, I quickly threw together a simple Thanksgiving table.  My plan was to teach the girls how to properly set a table (we never eat at our dining room table in the dining room since we converted it to a school six years ago) but they already knew how! "We learned it from watching Signing Time! over and over with Lula."  So not only can the set the table, they can sign all the pieces.  I actually made a table covering (a scrap of fall-colored fabric-so shabby chic!) and a centerpiece (Pinterest inspired!) from old dusty champagne glasses turned over into candle holders! We pulled out the special fish silverware and drank our Sprite/cranberry juice out of mason jars.  It wasn't quite Country Living Magazine, but close.

This year we are not only reminded of how thankful we are for our blessings, but how we take our blessings for granted.  As we head into a holiday season where our values are challenged by our culture, I pray that we continue to stay focused and cheerful on why we have chosen to live the life in our own, special nontraditional way.

Two Years Old

Heidi is going to be a FUN two year old.  She is so independent and confident. She loves to make her siblings laugh and smile.  She thinks a loud, "NO!" is the funniest thing in the world. She is developing a caring spirit and will run to a crying sibling and pet them and try to hug them.  She usually gets pushed down for her efforts because it is usually Lula or Daniel in trouble. But she doesn't take it personally and gets right back up and back into the game.

She didn't like the wind blowing

She loves ponytails and tutus and boots-the same purple boots that we got for Evie when she was two and the same pair where Daniel liked to wear only one purple boot when he was two.  We spend all day replacing ponytails that she will pull out immediately and ask for "two" instead of one. She copies Lula as much as possible which means I'm going to have to work extra hard to cultivate a nice lady out of Lula! Her most annoying habit is needing to hold hands when she is sleepy or feeling like a snuggle.  She needs to lace her fingers in ours and then she pinches our hand skin with her index fingers and thumbs.  Annoy-ing!

She skipped over the signing phase and went straight to talking.  She has a few cute phrases like shrugging and saying, "Huh-huh know!" when she doesn't know where something is or kicking and screaming and saying, "Let go of me!" clear as day when she is being carried away from something she isn't supposed to be playing with. Heidi's most confusing request is when she says, "A wah a ginky."  Sometimes it means she wants a cupcake, other times it means she pooped her pants. Her super talent is singing.  She can sing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, the ABCs, Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Old MacDonald had a Farm, and Let it Go.  I have the cutest video of her singing the line "You'll never see me cry," and then hitting her head on the back of the couch and crying.  But you have to speak Heidi really well to understand.  She really loves finger play songs and songs with movement.  The other kids tolerated them. Some downright hated them.  She loves it.

Even her older brothers like her-mostly because she is like a performing monkey pet.  Happy Birthday Heidi and may the next year bring as much happiness and joy as this last one!

Four Months

I'm a bit late posting Jason's four months old pictures...

...maybe it is because he is just so darn cute I can't stop playing with him. 

The countdown to our holiday has begun...tomorrow Heidi turns two, then we have Thanksgiving, and then Genevieve has a birthday party on Saturday.  No time for school!

Weathering the Storm

So, we had a windstorm a few nights ago, on Tuesday, just a few days after the power outage we had over the weekend.  We lost power right after we finished popping a big batch of popcorn and boiling a bunch of water for cocoa.  It was perfect timing.

Running in the Wind

Playing in the flooded pasture (dodging branches)

Wouldn't wear a coat. Or shoes.

Too gusty for kites

The kids thought it would be fun to go out and play in the wind and it was.  Heidi got cold quickly, so I took her in (kicking and screaming) to sit by the fire.  It wasn't like we could put her in a warm bath with no power!

Favorite Picture of the Week

 We couldn't decide which picture was cuter, this one:

Or this one:

Lucky for us, our power came back on just in time to heat up some leftovers for dinner.  I was very thankful.  Squishing ten power-hungry people into one living room is not as fun as it used to be.  I can distract with reading out loud for only so long...

Chatter

Sometimes I just get caught up in life, ya know?

*Warning: Body function talk*

Heidi potty trained.  She decided that she was done with diapers (unless it looks like I'm going to put "her" diaper on Jason) and with hardly any effort from us, she started peeing on the potty.  Pooping has been more of a struggle.  This is new to us; usually we get #2 trained before #1.  She even wakes up dry in the morning.  I know there are families out there that experience this, but we have always had kids that are older when they are able to stay dry all night.

Lula sneaked off with Jason's binky and fell asleep.

Regression

Strangely enough, we've had a bit of regression too.  Lula has gone back to needing binkies.  But we won't give them to her; she steals them.  She locks herself in her room (the lock is from when the room was the playroom and I would lock them away from their toys) and falls asleep.  She did it tonight.  Heidi regressed by wanting bottles of milk again and not sleeping through the night.

The kids have gotten interested in sewing.  Genevieve designed and hand-sewed a little doll.complete with yarn hair.  She figured out how Raggedy Ann's hair was made and she copied it.  A friend of mine gave the kids a tote of fabric, so (or sew, haha) we've got a lot of projects going on.  Ian has enlisted Genevieve's help putting together a stuffed Robox, a character he designed in one of his games.  Shane wanted to help, but Ian said Evie was the only one careful and detailed enough to do it right.  That's a pretty big compliment.

He'll be a great supervisor someday

Guess what Jason can do?

He found his toes! He is also nursing a ton better and is only taking about ten ounces of formula a day.  I just can't seem to keep my milk supply up, so I've doubled my fenugreek intake and maybe, by the time he starts solid food in a month or two, I'll make enough milk to exclusively breastfeed.

Lincoln Logs: Hands on History

Our power went out for 12 hours on Saturday.  We found ourselves not as prepared as we usually are.  I had plenty of water and camp stove fuel, but I just didn't feel ready.  The worst part was probably waking up three times with Heidi screaming in the dark and not having my emergency night light plugged in.  I unplugged it so I could read out loud to the kids, but never put away.  I found my flashlight and fell asleep with it turned on in my hand.  Mark woke me up and asked me if I was going to keep it on all night, so I turned it off.  When Heidi woke up again and Mark asked me where the flashlight was, I snapped, "You made me turn it off! I can't see it in the dark!" Then when I got up for the rest of the day, the fire was stone cold and there was no kindling in the house.  And Mark couldn't find the hose that connects the camp stove to the fuel to make coffee, so he just left to find out what caused the power outage (a tree knocked out a pole).  After coffee and fire, I was happy to spend a few hours just sitting around knitting with my kids playing nearby.

Lincoln Logs have been the toy du jour.  With as many kids as I have playing and building, there just aren't enough to go around!

Forget the cabin. This is a log mansion!

I've cut back a bit on activities, so I have seen more sibling interaction (both positive and negative).  Shane offered to watch all the younger kids so I could take just Ian (and Jason) to the YMCA today.  The older girls have been so helpful running Heidi to the potty.  We've had many lessons in revenge (Daniel's specialty) and potty talk/inappropriate language.  Ian has been great about taking Daniel out on adventures in the woods.  And I don't want to embarrass a certain older son of mine, but he has been the big brother that every 2, 3, and 5 year old loves.

One activity I've cut back in is MOPS.  I was on the steering committee, but I don't have the extra time or brain power to help the group go.  I was always showing up late without the forms I forgot to print.  But today I went to the playgroup, which in the past is just moms drinking coffee while the little kids run around the room.  Today, my kids ate several bags of junk food cereal that were set out for everyone (they missed breakfast because I didn't make any because I had to sit in the bathroom with Heidi until she pooped).  Cereal like Cocoa Puffs, Trix, Frosted Cheerios, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  What do toddlers do with bags of cereal? Dump them on the ground, that's what.  And what do they do next? They play in the water fountain and get soaking wet.  Earlier in the meeting, I met a new mom.  She was explaining a very detailed chore/allowance system she runs with her five kids where she "pays" them fifty cents to load the dishes (for example) and then "charges their account" for things like food for their pets or dance lessons.  She sighed and rolled her eyes because she knows "five kids is sooo crazy."  One of my friends turned to me and said, "How many kids do you have again?" When she found out I had eight and then found out I homeschool, she asked me if I had a back ground in education.  Like, do I have actual teaching credentials? Oh my gosh, no one in nine years has ever asked me that! And then she asked with a real snotty voice, "So since you have no real education experience, do you just hand them a book or something?"  She turned out to be a super duper control freak and ended our fun playgroup when the running boys, the cereal on the floor, and the wet kids finally got to her.  She yelled at everyone to rein in the chaos and do a better job watching our kids.  "You don't want to have to take your child home soaking wet, do you?"  I stood up to her and informed her the wet kid was mine and I didn't care if she was wet. Then I pulled off her dress, zipped her up in her coat, and loaded my kids up in the van.  I vacuumed up all the cereal (it looked like there had been a toddler rave in there!) and headed home while our head coordinator was having her ears talked off by Mrs. Fun Sucker.  By the time I got here, there was a post on our Facebook page about how at the next meeting there needs to be more structure.  Why do moms have to be so difficult?

Well, I'm off to go pop some popcorn while my unsocialized creative kids make a gihungous mess in the school room with empty formula cans, making tapes, and hole punchers.

Ten Weeks

We've reached the Ten Week mark in our homeschool.  I do try to focus on the positives while staying true to our day to day insanity without complaining too much about the difficulties.

I mean, duh, I knew this year was going to be challenging.

Telling secrets!

My challenges are many (why would Heidi choose NOW to potty train? Can't she wait until spring?), but I think the biggest has become Fiona's math.  I don't think she is necessarily BAD at math, although I still feel pecked to death when I teach her.  I think that she just needs to find a method that isn't spiral learning that can be taught in very short lessons one topic at a time.  I also think Saxon can make some lessons more difficult than they need to be.  When she was learning the adding 9 facts, Saxon introduced the lesson by reviewing adding 10 to a number then teaching the trick to add ten, subtract one.  Fiona did better just memorizing flash cards and doing a timed test.  I think she developed a short attention span and a lazy mind because I am often interrupted ("No, Heidi, go to the potty! Lula, stay out of the sink! Daniel, stop jumping on your brother! Mark, make me some coffee!") during her math time.

I do also wonder if she has developed a mental block against math because I get so frustrated so quickly, especially during my school time "witching hour."  I'm going to try to be sneaky and trick her into doing math without actually teaching her in a traditional sense. 

When the Power Went Out...

...a light turned on.

The weather was terrible on Halloween and our power went out for a few hours.  Mark and Evie were gone to vaulting/YMCA and Ian was still in bed, so Shane was awful bored without his screens.  He has been reading about robots in his science and built one, but has been wanting me to buy more DC motors so he can build more robots without having to take apart his others.  He realized on Saturday that he had a broken RC car and thought that maybe he could salvage some parts and do a little exploration...

...and what he found was more that what we imagined.  Shane has been doing two different levels of science.  One is electricity and magnetism and the other is robotics, conservation, and energy.  He has gone through the electricity and magnetism a few times in our homeschool, but I really want him to more than understand the material.

And he pretty much made all the effort I've put into homeschooling worth it.  Not only did he discover one DC motor, he decided there must be a second motor that drove the back wheels and found that one as well.  He clipped the wires that attached the motors to the computer board knowing that whatever programming was stored there, he couldn't use.  He stripped the wires himself to make longer leads.  And then he tested to see if he could make the motors run by simply touching the leads to the ends of a battery.

He was a little disappointed at how slowly the motor ran, especially since the car seemed to drive so quickly in comparison.  He then remembered that the battery case had four batteries, he was testing with only one battery, and when he was creating circuits with batteries, light bulbs, and aluminum foil in his science class, the more batteries he used, the brighter the bulb...  so when he discovered the battery case was corroded (and probably the reason the car didn't work anymore) he figured out a way to arrange the four batteries so that he could make a circuit and run the motor faster.  It worked!

Today, he reassembled various parts and made a two-wheeled contraption that runs on two batteries with pennies as conductors and tape holding it all together.

THIS IS WHY WE HOMESCHOOL!