Winter is Ending

I'm amazed at how it feels like we are constantly behind in many areas of our life, but I have no problem letting the kids spend a half day running wild outside.

My Little Kinder Garten

Welcome to the Outdoors, Jason

Wild and Unsocialized

Flexible

And training for the circus?

Daniel is camera shy. So I took a picture of this bucket.

So sweet and squishy

And working on his Downen Wild

Got him.

Today's forecast is mostly sunny, so it looks like we'll have another great Wild and Free day!

Crackers for Crackers

This kid loves to eat.

Yesterday he ate two whole containers of baby food (mixed vegetables and prunes with applesauce), a bunch of cheerios, and a handful of crackers.

Or was it two handfuls of crackers???

Birds in Flight

Our eagle is back, like it is every year.  It got Dracula last week and came back for more this morning.  The dogs have become bird-chasing dogs, thanks to Kai and his weird obsession with crows. Jack picked up the sky-watching habit and had this eagle "treed" long enough for me to shoot it.... with the camera.

Original shot with Lazy Person Lens

Same shot, cropped. I can't believe you can see its pupil.

 I'm not sure if the eagle was after our ducks/geese/chickens or if it was after the wild ducks.  They didn't waste any time getting out of there when the eagle was watching me.

Ducks in Flight

 The eagle waited for me to leave, but when it became apparent I wasn't going anywhere, it left.

Jack chased it to make sure it wasn't going to come back.  Later today, after I took the four youngsters to Target and Costco, I took them outside for some fresh air.  This time we saw a great blue heron. These birds always get the roosters anxious and the dogs barking, but they are usually only after frogs.

My youngsters spent some time ferrying around the giant puddle of 2015-16.  They sure are enjoying the water and mild weather this winter!

Night Frogs

Anytime we open the door the last few nights, the frogs have been SO LOUD!  Our pasture is still flooded, so they have moved in.  Tonight I decided to take a flashlight out and see if I couldn't catch one...with my camera.

And man oh man, they were so loud it hurt my ears!

I had to get the kids and bring them out too...

Rough skinned newt

Giant Water Bug

Catch and Release

After the three kids went back inside, I had to bring Heidi and Jason back out with me (they were a bit upset I left them inside).  Imagine me, if you will, standing in a big puddle wearing Mark's boots and a long skirt-dragging in the water-with a baby in one arm and a crying toddler behind me in the dark....

...with a flashlight in my mouth...

...and a camera in my other hand.  Awkward, yes, but totally worth it.

Family Rambling

Chickens: We had too many chickens and zero eggs, so these old hens and numerous roosters had to go.  We are down to four roosters (I think) and we've butchered about eight old hens, including Strawberry and Henny Penny.  Yes, the old hens that were good broody hens are gone.  I think we are down to 16 chickens, 4 geese, and 2 ducks (we caught an eagle eating our favorite duck, Dracula, today).

Those curls had to go too.  Sigh. 

Spring is coming and so is milder weather.  I cannot stand having the kids on the couch when it isn't raining, so they had to play outside for a little while today.

Shane, Lula, and Ian waaaaay up there

When I was down at the pond taking pictures of the water striders (coming up next) I heard Ian say that he has never been so high before.  I decided that the couch was a safer alternative.

Daffodil sighting!

That's not a good sign... That's our apple tree

Water striders on the pond

The ripples on the pond from the water striders with the tree reflection in focus.

I'm glad we went out this afternoon.  I'm also glad it is midwinter break here and I didn't have to worry about getting schoolwork done.

Sick Baby Jason

Early Tuesday morning, Jason woke up at 3AM with a hot fever. He's my 8th kid, so fevers don't freak me out too much.  I don't take temperatures anymore. I can basically guess that a fever is low grade, hot, or too high.

After 24 hours.... I start to worry....just a little bit.....

It could just be teething....he does gnaw viciously on my finger when the medicine wears off.  It could be the flu... he does throw up his baby Tylonel and either what he does swallow is upsetting his stomach or he has diarrhea.....half the other kids have been complaining about an upset stomach.... 36 hours and still hot.....

I start to question my no-doctor-visits-for-a-virus policy..... they just send me home with new germs...and it seems like just when I break down and call, the fever breaks.... but could it be ear infections? He hasn't been congested at all though.... 48 hours......

He keeps moaning-it's his comfort sound that he makes when he wants to sleep, but now that he is sick, he makes it with every breath.... He hasn't left my arms since he first came down with this fever... we've been sleeping on the couch..... 60 hours....

It could be roseola. We've gone through it seven times so far.  I remember when Ian got roseola, I thought the fever was teething, but then the rash appeared and I got really worried.  My mom reassured me, "Oh, it's probably just roseola..." and sure enough, I looked it up and it was.  When Charlie had it, I said the same to Ami, "Oh, it's probably just roseola...." and sure enough, it was.  But this fever is hot.....and even the 8th baby is a precious baby..... 66 hours....

...and I start yelling at my other kids.  "If this fever doesn't break soon, I'm going to have to take him to urgent care! He is too little to have a fever this high for this long! Quit bugging me and be helpful!"

And....72 hours....the fever breaks and the poor baby sleeps peacefully all night long.  And sure as shootin' the rash breaks out today.

And, it was just roseola.

Detective Mom

When someone draws a face on my school room floor, I need to find out who did it.

The answer is clear with hand writing analysis.

A Family of Suns

Do you think this is conclusive evidence? I do.

Note the teeth on the orange sun

Although the face resembles something Shane would have put in a silly comic, the truth is that Lula did it.  She was quick to blame Heidi.

Want!

Jason wants toys! He reaches for them! (Sometimes he falls on his face and a few times we've caught him in an almost crawling position-loudly protesting)

Jason wants food! He squeals and grunts when he sees others with spoons! (He is eating rice cereal mixed with pears or squash and loves it) I need to feed him with two spoons because he keeps grabbing the spoon from my hand.

He does not want a bath when he is done eating though! He hates the water!

And then.... there is....... The Time Machine. Eight kids and still functioning....

AND since little Heidi didn't have her very own time machine post, just like...well, the rest of them except Fiona and Lula, here is Heidi's Time Machine Picture:

(And if you follow the link above to Lula and Daniel's pictures, you will also see a link to the older four kids from 2008)

Video Games

We've done all sorts of experiments with video game schedules in this house.  We don't want to be completely out of this world, but we don't want to roll in the muck either.  We just want balance. Is that too much to ask?  We used to limit video games to weekends, but then we had the problem of the unmotivated homeschooler... So we allowed video games every day, as long as schoolwork and chores were done.  Now we are dealing with an over-motivated homeschooler that has too much time on his hands and feels punished for working hard if I pile on more work to fill the extra hours...

I don't mind that they play on these dark, rainy winter days.  If they aren't tranquilized by the soothing glow of the screen, they are jumping on each other and breaking my furniture.  And this doesn't exclude the girls either.

My furniture isn't the only reason I don't mind video games this time of year.  I've realized that my teen boys need to hunt and kill monsters. It's just part of their biology.  But I have also tried to communicate with the boys about fight or flight and how it affects their bodies.  "The reason you are so grumpy is because you have all these molecules floating around in your body, but you haven't done the physical exertion part of the equation. You have to break those down. Go for a run."  Whether or not they take me up on my advice is up to them.  If they get grumpy, I'll just ground them from screens.

The other thing I've noticed about video game time, especially Minecraft time, is, well, it's a long sentence so I'll break it down.  There is a reason Minecraft is being used as an educational tool in schools.  Homeschoolers are not allowed to use the Educraft software (jerks), but I've perused some of the lesson plans.  I can tell you that my kids are coming up with these ideas on their own.  I do not need to tell them to build an exact copy of our house or create a community where you and three other players work cooperatively to solve a problem or if you need x blocks of jungle wood to create wood panels, how many pieces of jungle wood do you need to gather to create a floor for a house 20 by 30 blocks? They are doing this themselves and I just sit back and watch.

While I sit back and watch, they (even Ian) show me what they are working on.  "Look at this. Isn't it cool?"  The communication channels open right up.  I ask questions, they give me answers.  It is a beautiful thing, people.  When we did a fun little quiz on Facebook where I ask the kids questions about me, Daniel said the thing he enjoys doing with me was playing Minecraft.  Tuesday nights, when all the older kids are gone and Daniel has washed all the dishes (really-he washes all the dishes by hand), we play Minecraft together.  I usually just sit in a hole while he plays (I do have three littler kids to take care of), but we have fun.  And I think this will motivate him to read because I won't tell him what things are.  Ian and Shane said the thing they enjoy doing with me is playing video games while I watch.  This didn't really hurt my feelings-I mean, what teenage boy enjoys spending time with his mom? Or would even admit it if they did?  But I realized that even just sitting in the same room while they play is quality time together.  And that made me feel a lot better about things around here!