It's been a couple of days

Sorry for the delay in updating this blog. I am really enjoying it ...mainly for family reasons, to try and make it easier to bring our lives to our families, faster and more regularly. We have been quite busy around here. We made yet another batch of chocolate chip cookies and it is probably the only recipe I use where I don't cut the fat or sugar. It's one of those recipes that you want baking when your kids' friends come over and hand them out. It's a " yes, I'm confident of this recipe" type of cookie. That, does not happen to me often :)

Jayden's Book Series : Fox's Adventure

Hannah just started smiling!!! Yeah! Her whole face lights up and I feel that the three months where her dis tractable eyes, then amused eyes and stone, serious face where peering at us while we entertained her with sound effects, jumps and contorted looks has paid off! She loves us :) and we now enjoy her sporadic,  " I love you too " smiles. She has also found her hands. At this moment, I am listening to her sucking hard on her entire first "slurp, slurp".

The kids are all coloring so nicely in the other room with a new box of crayons and each has a sketch pad. Yesterday, after co op we were pretty hungry and I was just not in the mood to bring everyone home to make lunch so we stopped at Chick Fil A. In the kids pack there was a cow comic book and now Jayden is making his own. He just stopped in to show me the completed the version so I will post pictures up asap.

We are working on the immune system for our Konos right now. One of the fun activities that we have done was visualizing germs and white blood cells using pipe cleaners. Jayden really seems to understand, which is beyond me since I still need to reference the different library books we have checked out to see if I am talking about the right "leukocyte, lymphocyte, phagocyte....." The kids have also been doing a lot of fall crafts which I LOVE!!!!! Yesterday at co op, the made a turkey with out of pine cones, which I asked the teacher where she found pine cones and she said up north :) Also, the made a countdown thankful chain for Thanksgiving. They really enjoy their co op and so do I. I am thankful that they can be apart of it this year.

The other night, Ben and I were sitting and relaxing on the couch when out came Jayden, swinging his arms like an ape, scowling and hunched over. We look at each other like, " Umm, ok. Jayden, what's wrong?" " I had a dream and I am scared that emperor Zerug is real!" " Jayden, how could you have had a dream, you haven't even slept yet. When did you dream this?" " A couple of months ago."  

Life here has been pretty laid back, but nice. I feel that our dear Miss Hannah is finally getting into a routine so that has been most helpful. We are working on reading the first two original Bobbsey Twin Books as well as the Tree house Mystery from the boxcar children. Austen would like to do stamps today and I think that will work out nice. 

Fun Fall Farms!

Every since we moved to our new location in the great United States, I have missed certain, but not all aspects of some seasons. One is the "fall " feel. Out here, it is now 60s at night and still heating up to low 80s during the day but not much past that. However, it still doesn't feel fall. I still make the fall pumpkin rolls, light the fall scented, many times uncinnamon ( as Ben despise that smell) candles, listen to Autumn In New England and curl up with a good book and a hot coffee ( oh wait, that was my life pre-kids) ok, reality...curl up with a few good fall themed children's books, a couch full of beautiful, blonde, fluffy haired children and a cup of cider, to share of course! " Momma, I have some of yours???"

Anyways, yesterday, our home school group went to a farm!!! I loved it and so did our kids. The ran around a corn maze doing a F.S.I to solve the crime, road on a cow train, hay mazes, pumpkin patch picking, a pizza tour as there is a portion of the farm divided into 8 "slices" of pizza ( or the different ingredients that go into making pizza. It was a wonderful afternoon and so glad Benjamin could be with us too! love that man! 

Rain!!!

Two days ago, as my kids were enjoying the absolute cool, crisp air of the morning and watching the sun come slowly up in the horizon , I heard them utter together a prayer for rain. The clouds did not appear to hold anything but the morning moisture in them, but, I too, prayed that God would answer their prayers.

We were listening to Hillsong, in the van, and driving along to the dentist. The song came on " Stronger" and flashbacks of my labor were coming to me as this was on my birth play list. I could just feel God's presence in the car and the kids all started praising with me. Even Moriah sings this song. As we are progressing through the song, stopping at stop signs and heading to the dentist, the sun peering through the clouds...IT BEGAN!!!

" Jayden, Austen LOOK!!!" I said with a choked up voice. There were sprinkles on my windshield the started accumulating slowly and by the time we arrived at the dentist it was enough to gently feel on your skin. Their appointments progressed and Jayden ended up having a cavity, so we stayed longer for that. As the dentist was talking to me, we both look outside and there was a torrential down pour BUT the sun was still shining! It looked as if someone was directing a movie and only putting rain where we were. The rain would not let up and it was beautiful, and it was refreshing and it was a prayer that my children prayed with all their hearts and so much faith.

Jayden, Austen, and Moriah...did you see that? I said to them....God wanted to tell you, " I LOVE YOU. Do you not understand how much I love you? I love you! and I hear you when you pray Child, I hear you . I am not a deaf God that your prayers do not reach my ears. But I am alive and listen to you, my child, when you pray."

Rain brought to the desert. How we can apply this beautiful illustration of God's love to so many areas of our life.

One Room Schoolhouse

Yesterday, as I was doing school with the kids I was thinking of how far I've come from my "structured" days in school and my frustrations last year of what I thought school should look like. Something that I have found is that my school day is fluid and moving , like water swirling, touching an obstacle and morphing and changing. This concept has really encouraged me to be thankful for what is going on but not feeling so much that it's not looking like " school". What do I mean by this? Great question. Yesterday, we were doing some lapbooking on Oregon. I found a cool mini unit study at www.homeschoolshare.com and ordered a bunch of the recommended books from the unit study, " Apples To Oregon" , from the library. I then proceeded to print off the necessary, FREE information online and got started with the kids.

Here is one way to describe what our moment looked like: We read our cool books together, began to sit down and assemble our lapbook and then enjoyed reading it and explaining it to Daddy. I could put it like that, but then I miss out on really explaining what it looked like, what home educating can look like, at least in my home, and realizing that it's family, we are not a public school so it doesn't need to look like that....so here is MY way of embracing the moments and describing it as such:

After reading our cool books together with Jayden listening closely, Hannah nursing, Moriah climbing , listening moving to and fro, and Austen listening and then curling up in a ball on the couch and informing me with his furrowed brow " I'm not going to read anymore", we finished. There was a myriad of questions after each page. Moriah kept wanting to review the previous pictures and Jayden then wanted me to repeat each written page as he was not liking the idea of flipping back and forth of pages. We stopped, and I put Moriah down for a nap. Then, we grabbed the glue and scissors and file folder and sat on the floor of the kitchen with our papers and markers and got started. I have been only doing one lapbook for both boys as they can then work together and do the different activities that are applicable to them . So, we went over the state bird, flower, and flag- I cut them as our little scissors are at a friend's house, Jay assembled the book and glued it with huge, sticky gobs of Elmers glue. Austen, did the apple math part where I we talked about coloring half of an apple, different ways, etc. Oh no, water spilled! Quick grab a rag! ok, resuming.......and Moriah is up with a fury! Ok, here is some pretzels Riah, sit next to Momma on the floor w/ your blanket. Austen is on my lap and Jay next to me. Now, let's talk about Alliteration....." Jay, can you think of an alliteration for plumb?"
Jayden- " Plumby??" ....." Ummm, yeah but how about like poignant or precious or plunging???" ok ok, getting the idea, " Jayden about cherries?" " Umm, cheery?" :) Ok, we are getting there :) ( The book Apples to Oregon uses a lot of Alliteration). Austen your turn! ok ( with Moriah crying in the background about wanting the silk side of her blanket wrapped around her but not touching her neck...geesh!). Alright , Austen can you color and draw the different types of weather on this paper?".......oh I forgot to mention sweet Hannah decieded to sleep during this time period......

Do you get my picture up there....just like in "public" school, my school isn't any less crazy or busy or hectic...it's different and it's family. We still get done what we need to get done, and it's done with excellence but we are not sitting at a table all the time, and we are definitely not sitting still. But we do our educating on the move and it's precious. I am dealing with different age levels ( Jay and Austen's being the easiest), different personalities and learning styles. I also am dealing with unexpected accidents ( water spilling, crying, running and tripping, etc). But that's ok.



God gives us the grace we need in our season. I am learning that. I am probably the hardest person, on myself, that you will ever find. I have an idea of what I want it to look like and if it doesn't I am so frustrated. That is what God is really teaching me through all of this. I didn't think I needed to be such a student, but God knew how much I have yet to learn. Oh the best part of it all, after the markers are strung everywhere, the glue is gobbed on, the lapbook is all assembled ( and I'm pretty proud of it :)) Jay begins explaining to Daddy...., " and this is the flag, and flower and weather page" :) ok Jayden, since Momma is proud of this, go play and I will show it to Daddy... " Ok Ben, look at this...isn't this page cool...it talks about the different weather patterns and in the story the family experienced......" Ahh, life in a one room schoolhouse :) and if you've seen my house....it truly feels like that...blessings!

Sleep or lack there of

One thing no one warned me about was having children meant that, until sleeping in is a fun thing to do, it is non existent. Hannah is finally, almost, sleeping through the night. She wakes up around 2/3am to feed and falls back asleep in our bed....HOWEVER, the other kids start lightly knocking on my door around 430am! Unfortunately it's Austen and Moriah who are not able to tell time yet...and I come into the hall only to find that Moriah has her dolls and games and books in the hall. Lord knows how long His little angel has been up. This could be the reason for some early morning meltdowns that could be avoided if she was sleeping to, oh how about 6??!

The day that all my children are old enough where I wake up around 630 and they are still sleeping will be a day that I get my crazy on and sit there while the sun is coming up....not waiting for it to come up. Don't get me wrong, I love the ages of my kids, I love their energy, their crazy and zest for life....however, couldn't it wait until " six zero zero" ???

The one benefit of our extremly early morning starts, why we are movin' and groovin' in our routines before most people have even opened their eyes to God's wonder. Do you sense a strong sense of satire or sarcasm, from me....no way! :)

So our day today...guess what, we have dentist appointments at 730am...all three kids....and I schedule it that way because we are up anyways....why sit around and wait for a 10am apt when they will be put behind by others that are late, we come wide eyed, smiling and set the tone for the rest of their on time scheduling day, you can thank me later. Yes, we are the family that will not have your 830 apt run late because the 730s didn't show until 745....why, we are there at 7:25am and have already eaten breakfast, read twenty stories, played games, legos, started 2 loads of laundry, cleaned the kitchen, showered ( most of the days :) ) , and started school..... we are the "overachievers" .....but someday, not now, and not for a long time... I will enjoy my "underachiever" mornings....at least for some of the time.


Some ways I've been woken up over the past 6.5 years
As Jayden used to say when he was just two, " GOOOD MORNING!"
" Mama, comes door"- Jay sticking his little hand under the door at the apt
knock, knock, KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!
" Mama ( at 430am), can we play quietly?"
" I cuddle with you"
" Can we get up yet?"
Crying, screaming, dirty diapers, throwing up, looking for a kiss, scared, and then the best of them all...silent Austen, especially as a 1.5=3 year old....silently opening my door, climbing in bed with me and sleeping horizontally with his sweet little round head :) 

The pictures of me and Jay sleeping and Austen and I....all I can say is....long nights :) Finally, the last is of the three kids at a hotel in San Diego 2 falls ago...wide eyed and ready to go early :)

How do you mommas get woken up in the morning or are you apart of the elite that sleeps past 6am??

Konos in our school

Yesterday, we ended up completing all of our school before 1030! Yeah! and I got my workout in , which is a big deal considering we are still working on adding Hannah to my act at my work out facility. We started off with Konos, Jayden's favorite. We read a bunch of books on the respiratory system, as that is the part we are on, had some discussion and then when onto our fun hands on learning aspect of it. I also love that Konos incorporates verses, ie: " Let everything that has breath praise the Lord".

I used to get so overwhelmed by Konos but now I "get it". I understand the system so much more. You go to the library, pick out "real" book on the subject ( no more boring textbooks). Then define the trait, ie: Cooperation, read the bible part of it, discuss people who demonstrated it or how whatever your theme is ( for us it's the Respiratory system right now) and do a few activities a day. I love it. I actually just bid and won the 2nd volume on line for $15!!!! That's a savings of about $100....so now I have all three volumes and the three smaller history units ( that are included in Vol II). The III one is the most organized as far as breaking it apart of activities for me...but now that I have that rough template I'm not so intimidated by the other ones and feel I am able to do that with them. Once we finish our cooperation unit, I might switch back to volumn I because it was stated that there are more activities for the younger kids ( and I want Austen involved in this part too).

We also did our language arts, Austen-SSRW and then oh so fun ferris wheel song and Jayden LLTL. Math was accomplished with measuring cm, geometric shapes and counting quarters...sounds like a hodge podge? Yes it is...We are almost done with Saxon 2 and trust me , I am looking forward to it! They say Saxon doesn't get "good" until around 5/4 or something like that....sooo, we will see....I might skip having a math book for a little bit and just do my own thing , teaching concepts for that particular grade level....because it just seems so mundane.....so , still thinking. Anyways, we've been having fun. Today, I printed off a lapbook on Oregon based off a book, Apples to Oregon. It went along with the different fall aspects I"m trying to pull in this season. There will be some apple printing, apple math, listening to music with fiddles, etc.... Should be fun :) Happy Schooling!

Funny side note that I want to put in...if anyone knows of Thomas the Train , they know there is a buck tooth character named , Salty. :) He is my favorite and the other day the kids were watching a movie and there was good ole' Salty staring us down and I did an impression of him that made me and Jayden laugh our heads off! :) He kept saying, " do it again " :)

Mmmm...fall baking!

Made these for my family as well as the church staff