30 november

wesley. and me. and chutes and ladders.

28 november

I am not a nurse-maid. I surely am not "employed" to look after my own children, and I certainly to do not tug my kiddos around by their tiny arms to get them to walk more quickly (rarely are we ever walking anywhere, and I gave up getting to those rare places quickly long ago).

Yet ... I found myself in the Emergency Room with Judah this afternoon, watching a very nice Emergency Room Doctor "pop" his nurse-maid's elbow back in place. 

And I was reminded.

Reminded to be  more careful. Eight children has made me quick, and I'm resolving to slow down. I was also reminded that I love my loud, rowdy boys much more than I love quiet, still boys.

Here's to a tomorrow filled with working elbows, noise, and rough and tumbles.

19 november

Bright and early this morning, Benjamin was making a book for Uncle Tyler. Benjamin is almost more interested in learning and writing his letters than Wesley is. Wesley is more concerned with doing his Math packets. The boys opted to do their 'letters' with Droids and Troopers. They are big into the Star Wars action figures and Legos right now. Santa's got it easy this year.

Kylie made bread late this morning, so our PB&J sandwiches were warm. And soft. And yummy. She's made bread almost every other morning for a month now. She has pretty much perfected this recipe, and loves her bread guide and electric knife, she says they make bread making so much easier. She has her eye on Pioneer Woman's gorgeous Kitchen Aid Mixer ... not so easy for Santa.

Someone mentioned yesterday that both Zach and Judah were looking so big. They are so big. Zach turned 9 months yesterday (and has 7 teeth). Judah is 3. Which means he's not a baby anymore. He's a Little.

For tea time this afternoon, I made Cambric and Chocolate Dipped Holiday Pretzels. Yes. Homemade bread every day, and chocolate dipped pretzels. And I wonder why I look so very healthy. Ha! The kids enjoyed them just as much as I did, and there were chocolate-ly faces and fingers and lots of plate licking going on.

The day went so slowly and uneventfully (and mostly calmly) by that I almost forgot it was (Mon)day. Which is big.

12 november

... after a four-day-long, busy weekend ... we are ready to relax. He came home with

autumn flowers

coca ~ cola

rich chocolate, creamy caramel, smooth nougat

and

October Baby

... off to spend some time alone with the world's sweetest husband ...

veteran's day parade

Happy Veteran's Day

basic combat training museum

We went on a field trip Friday. Bright and early (7:30AM), we headed to Fort Jackson, South Carolina to see the Basic Combat Training Museum (and visit the Clinique counter at the PX). Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable ... I suppose that's because he's actually been through Basic Combat Training ... and because he's the dad of all these Rowdy Boys.

Guess what they've have been playing all weekend?

2 november

eating pumpkin pie. in footed jammies. on the table.

1 november

they love football. but they hate socks and shoes.

halloween { buckeye style }

We went trick-or-treating for the first time on Halloween since 2008. I could go into all the reasons why we didn't go the last few years, I could go into all the reasons why we did go this year. But I won't. Brian made a decision that was right for our family, the end.

We went Trunk-or-Treating at a local church. It was quick, it was easy, it was family-friendly, it was FREE (we didn't even buy costumes), and it was fun.

 :: happy halloween! ::


for your consideration:
Halloween - Trick or Retreat? by Tim Challies
Sent into the Harvest:  Halloween on Mission at desiringGod

26 october

little pigs, little pigs ... zach has little pigs.

19 october

he's singing. at the top of his lungs. always.

homeschooling on thursday

this picture has nothing to do with homeschooling, other than the fact that Zach is LEARNING that he likes food. Big people food.

A lot.

We spent a lot of time this week on History and Science, which we'd been neglecting. I was really taking the time to get to know our curriculum. Yes. I know it's now late-mid-October. But we're year round schoolers, so it doesn't really matter. We also got half way through Peter and the Wolf, learning about some of the orchestra instruments. And we spent a lot of time outside faking Nature Study.

We find it very helpful to use songs to help us memorize whenever you can. We listened to two songs for Astronomy this week. We also learned the states and capitals that way. And we know Veritas Press' American History and Presidents songs.

Wesley's ABCs and 123s "Copywork" using his Star Wars ABC and 123 books.

*A little reminder to myself (and some advice to share with you) would be to do something with your preschoolers first. We did not do that at all this week. And it really showed in the Littles' behavior. We missed Morning Meeting with our poems, nursery rhymes, alphabet, and calendar. And we also missed singing our Bible Song, reading our Bible Story, and the twenty minutes each morning we would spend coloring our Bible Story picture. Why?! did we not do that this week?

and Candy Corn Math

Barb, the creator of The Outdoor Hour Challenge and Harmony Fine Arts, truly inpired me today. I happened upon her Autumn Study lens at Squido ... and found it to be really amazing that anyone would spend that much time, put forth that much effort, and share it with the rest of us homeschooling moms for almost free. Can you imagine what homeschooling would be like if we all shared that way?! Go see for yourself. She has numerous Nature Study ideas with links and notebook pages. And some Autumn music selections. And Autumn Picture Study prints. And then a whole bunch of great living books to go along with all of it. Thank you! Barb!!

For our fun books, we're Reading Aloud Pippi Longstocking and Little Town on the Prairie.

We are NOT fans of Pippi. At all. Any of us. We will read the last chapter tomorrow, and even though I have the second and third books in my possession, we will NOT be reading them. She is just too ornery for us. And we don't need any extra ornery in this house. At all.

the Little Boys are not reading here. they are watching PBS. because that's what we do sometimes.

However, we all LOVE Little Town on the Prairie. Today we read the chapter where Laura and Mary Power go to their first Sociable. Tuesday, we read about name cards, and we got to see Laura and Almanzo together. Yay! We are just Little House geeks here. Just tonight my Big Boys fell asleep to Little House in the Big Woods, and my Little Boys fell asleep to Farmer Boy. Ahhh. Pa's fiddle, and Cherry Jones' voice is so comforting.

For American History, we're reading The Vikings. We are only a few chapters into it, so I really can't comment other than to say it's pretty adventurous! ... and I do know my Big Boys are enjoying it, because they're talking about it. They've already read Leif the Lucky a few times (they LOVE DÁulaire's books, and are ALWAYS reading one during Quiet Time) and they feel like they know Leif. Leif's their bud.

For World History, we're reading Adam and His Kin. I have no comment on this book yet. I might not ever have a comment on this book.

In the kithen this morning, I made french toast with Kylie's homemade bread (home ec), bacon, chocolate milk, and coffee for breakfast (while watching a very pretty sunrise). We had apples and bananas for morning snack, cut up hot dogs and ketchup with corn for lunch, Cambric Tea and Korinne's homemade oatmeal raisin bars (home ec, again) for tea time, Digiorno pizzas for dinner, and peanuts and milk before bed. We spend a lot of money on food.

Simple things like having someone inform us of what instrument is what on our Peter and the Wolf CD, Greek answer keys, and knowing that most of our learning happens by living (if I didn't know that, I'd be in trouble) make me a very grateful homeschool mom.

hurry up with the food, Mom!

please!

(some links to share):

 :: happy thursday! ::