Cell-O

I've been battling a virus which seems to have lasted forever.  I took the morning off from homeschooling because my glands are painfully swollen, but I need to keep some semblance of order to keep things from completely falling apart. We've been learning about cells in science and we had our final project: building a candy cell.

Cytoplasm (Jello actually)

These two were so easy compared to their little sisters

This morning I also realized that Jason has reached a whole new level of toddler-crazy.  Like I can't turn my back on him for a minute crazy.  I found him balanced on the arms of two deck chairs outside.  I had only turned my back on him because while vacuuming the sand out of the door track, I saw that all my missing pencils were stuffed down the heater vent.

Securely tied down after climbing out of my backpack and over my head.

But I can't turn my back on Lula or Heidi either!  Lula is like a creative raccoon.  She is always pilfering through places and things and collecting doodads that she weaves into the most beautiful playtime adventures.  You should have seen her last night while she played emergency room with a penguin.  A bottle top was a face mask.  A fake flower was her stethoscope.  The missing kitchen towels were blankets.

Caught eating organelles!

I'm outnumbered. Osgiliath is overrun.  Oh, well! We might as well have fun and eat all the candy!

Nice ribosomes, Daniel!

Heidi's masterpiece

Endoplasmic Reticulum and Ribosomes (AKA Fruit by the Foot and Nerds)

I love the days when I can use my college education.  I don't think my kids care that I can spell all the organelles without looking and I remember what they all do (mostly).  What I do want them to care about though, is learning things that seem useless can be fun.  I learned all about Casting Out Nines this morning.  Totally useless.  In fact, most math is completely useless for the average person.  The only math that average people need is the math they use to run their homes (which includes taxes and banking and business math).  I'm right on the edge of a math rebellion- but that is a post for another day ;)

Flying Fun

Shane Keeps Droning...

...on and on....

It started with the little drone that I got for his birthday, which stopped working after two days.  Lucky for us, Costco has a great return policy and we got our money back.

That drone was the gateway drone.  This next one?

It's BIGGER!

It's BETTER!

It's GOT A CAMERA!

A picture of me taking a picture of the drone (pictured above)

Why did I replace the little drone with a camera drone? Well duh!  We wanted to get a closer picture of the wasp nest.  Because getting really close to a wasp nest with a drone to take pictures is a really good, safe, idea, right? And something every parent should encourage?

The wasp nest

The geese do NOT like drones (turkeys and chickens to the right)

Shane: Outstanding in his field (get it?)

The drone even takes video with sound.  I can't wait for Shane to apply his video game skills to piloting so he can make some awesome movies of the airspace above our property.  This is FUN.

Target

These things may happen if you take both Heidi and Jason to Target at the same time:

• One will strip to her underpants while the other is climbing out of the cart
• One will throw hairbands and hair clips in the cart while the other is screaming at the top of his lungs
• One will refuse to put her new toothbrush on the conveyor belt to be scanned while the other throws all the keys and money on the floor while screaming that he doesn't have a new toothbrush which is why I didn't notice the extra hairbands and hair clips that I bought.

And why did I drag these monsters into the store at dinner time just to buy toothbrushes? Lula scrubbed the toilet with them, that's why.

Do The Next Thing

1. Preserve the Harvest
2. Clean the House
3. Educate the Kids

Genevieve foraged for nuts and is preparing them for storage

When I get frustrated, I recite the list.  The house will be clean as soon as the turkeys and fruit are processed. The kids will start school when the floors are vacuumed. 

Lula created a siphon and drained a bottle of water through a plastic tube. All on her own.

I have one more batch of pears that we are finishing up.  Three turkeys are in freezer camp and I canned their stock with my new pressure canner.  Tomorrow the rest of the turkeys get butchered (and more stock will be produced) and maybe then I will get to the rest of the apples...

G practices her "mom" skills: baby under the arm, rescuing older child from drowning. She's good.

I'm hiding this last paragraph under and behind the "jars in my pantry post" because sometimes a mom has to hide little things for herself.... Ian's team lost its second game last night and Ian was injured by a player the outweighed him by 100 pounds.  He came limping in house from the injury he received, cleaned up his bloody elbow without complaining, went to bed, and was up and ready for school on time.  He is going to have to sit out in PE and football practice after school, but he won't complain.  On the one hand, I'm super worried and I wish he would have let the coaches know how badly he was injured. But on the other, I'm glad he has perseverance and isn't using his injury as a reason to bow out of responsibility.  It's complicated, isn't it?

I Think I Can

I haven't been enthusiastic about canning for many years.  I honestly can't remember the last time I canned seriously, but I'm pretty sure it was before we moved here.  Back then I mostly used pint and half-pint sized jars.  This year we have a bumper crop of apples and pears.

The Jonathan Tree

I've only cleared off two trees so far and we've frozen a few gallons (no, I'm not kidding gallons) of applesauce.

Toddler helper = bites out of each apple

 I filled three 5-gallon buckets with windfall apples and turned those into cider...

Precious Cargo

Two gallons of cider are in the freezer for a special occasion (Christmas and Easter?).  One was happily consumed.  Nothing beats these Jonathan apples for fresh cider.  I may just buy my own press for next year (although it was kind of fun pressing with other people-I just don't like bringing my kids other places where I need to watch them, but I need to work).

When I unpacked my jars and realized I had less than a dozen quart jars, I had to go buy more.  With a family this size, there is no way a pint of applesauce will feed everyone.  Quarts or bust.  I brought home five cases.

The green jar is actually a blue jar with yellow applesauce

I broke one quart jar, so used the lid on a pint

Apple butter (brown) mixed with apple sauce (pink)

The real fun part is the different colors of the applesauce.  Each batch has its own ratios of Jonathan (red peels) to the other kind with yellowish/greenish peels (Granny Smith we think). As I run out of applesauce filling jars, I start another batch, so sometimes the jars have a zebra effect. 

So far, I have 30 quarts of applesauce and butter, plus more in the fridge.  Tomorrow I can pears.  I couldn't do a project like this if it weren't for the help I get from Genevieve and Fiona.  They took turns being buddies with the littles while I worked.  They also helped shake the trees and pick up all the apples (Daniel help too).  We truly have reached the Golden Age of Large Family FUNctioning.

The N00b Football Mom

I made sure I was at Ian's first game last night, even if it meant I had to take Jason with me.  Nevermind-I called Mark (who was in town getting Evie) to get Jason because he didn't even make it through the first quarter without trying to run on the field.

This was Ian's first experience playing football on a team.  We don't even watch football because of our lack of TV, so when Ian announced that he wanted to join the team last spring, Mark and I were pretty surprised.  He had no idea what he was getting into.  He is second string, so I figured he wouldn't get much play.  High School football isn't like little kid soccer. No mama can make sure her little snowflake gets equal time on the field.

Ian's first play: He is a defensive lineman #33

 The other team scored first, so Ian (#33) only came out for kick off until his team got a nice lead on score.

I enjoyed watching the game (and only getting some of what was going on) until I saw Ian with a coach on each side.... were they going to put him in???

Yes!!! Go #33!!!

 And as soon as he ran out to the line, the referee called a time out and he ran right back. 

And it's a good thing I took pictures, because Mark knew they called the time out on a 3rd down.

The next play was the best play in the whole game (but I didn't know it at the time)....

Lining up

Look for Ian #33 on the left: He spies.... a quarterback!

SACKED!  Ian sacked the QUARTERBACK!

At the time, I knew he had tackled someone and everyone was overly happy about it.  And I knew I got a good picture of it.  But it wasn't until Ian was in the car and he asked, "Did you see me sack the quarterback?" that I knew what happened.

As the field got dark and the rain started coming down, the Freshman team of the Peninsula Seahawks won their first game 28 to 6.  It was quite possibly the best day of Ian's life.

High School

Yesterday was a big day.  As big as THIS day.  Yes, Ian has been "public schooled" under the alternative education laws through MP3.  Yes, Ian rode the bus home from track last spring.  Yes, Ian has been to the high school all summer long as part of the football team.  So riding the bus to public school at the high school was nothing too new.

Mark, being a man, didn't realize what a huge deal it would be for me to sleep in and miss the First Day of School picture.  He got to keep Ian all to himself and do morning guy stuff like drink coffee.  Then he drove him to the bus stop.  I had to wait until evening to see Ian and ask how his day was.

Gosh, my boy is handsome.  This year he is taking AP Environmental Science, PE, English, Geometry, Spanish 1, and Art.  He has a previously homeschooled friend in English.  And he was the only one to raise his hand in Geometry to answer simple vocabulary questions. Whether that was because no one knew the answer or Ian doesn't know to not raise his hand remains to be seen.  He has after school football practice for an additional four hours.  His day is long, but he was pretty happy when he got home.

Every time I look at Ian, when he is tossing the football with his dad or just being, I see a double.  I guess it is Mom Vision.  I see the young man that he is, but I still see this guy:

I don't think Mom Vision ever goes away. Oh, my heart.  Anyway, tonight is the first football game of the season.  The football team is required to dress up on game days, so Ian headed out the door this morning looking like a Mormon missionary.  Today is also picture day at school, so we will have a nice wall portrait of Ian wearing a tie.  I am so thankful that 1) I've had teenagers grow up before and 2) I still have little guys underfoot.  This would be far too painful without them.