A Very Full Life

Food

2012-01-08T00:50:00.000-08:00

My days are busy! and I mean busy! I have five kids I'm homeschooling. Two in High School, one in middle school and two in Elementary. I go from child to child to child teaching, mentoring, helping, playing, re-teaching etc...all day every day. I also have kids in lessons, clubs and actually do have some interests of my own. This is my choice and I love it! But...I've come to realize a few things about the all important subject of Food. My children need to eat. You would think that would be a given, but on busy days I often forget about food because I don't have time. They don't forget though. Also, when my kids don't eat they get grumpy, tired, and lose the ability and desire to work/think. If I stop what I'm doing, which always has something to do with the kids, to go make food, then the kids stop what they are doing. And then they have to stop what they are doing to actually eat. It's not a win-win situation for our days. But my kids still need to eat. I haven't been organized enough to tell an older child to 'go make lunch.' They always get frustrated at that if they want to make something more than peanut butter sandwiches. I realized I needed to make a PLAN.
I follow a blog 'Once a Month Mom.' The premise is that you make a plan for the month: breakfasts, lunches and dinners and complete all of the cooking over one or two days at the beginning of the month. Then, when you are hungry there is a plan and food already prepared. Just re-heat. OaMM provides 6 breakfasts, 6 lunches and 15 dinners. I decided I needed to do this but on a bigger scale. So, this past week I've taken the time to make our own menu utilizing food that I know my kids love. I've planned breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner for every day but Saturday. It's been quite the job. My kids have been intrigued and even excited about this. I shopped all morning and afternoon for a months supply of grocery items-(I even made a grocery list of exact amounts so I wouldn't waste budget)
On a budget note: I realized after completing shopping that this plan will potentially save us over $400 a month on groceries. I should only need to shop for milk and fresh vegies and fruit every week.
Tonight, we began assembling meals-enough for 8 people. Thanks hubby for helping. We made 12 Egg McMuffins, 32 Mummy Dogs, 16 Broccoli/Ham Twice Baked Potatoes, 2 meals of Cranberry Chicken, 2 meals Greek Inspired Chicken, 4 meals Honey Teriyaki Chicken, 1 meal Ham Fried Rice, 2 meals Ranch Parmesan Chicken. We also cooked up enough chicken for chicken salad, BBQ Chicken Pizza, Chicken Crescent Rolls. Now all of the dishes are NOT chicken based but I had purchased a 40 lb box of chicken breast and had to take care of it right away so I didnt' need to figure out a way to store it. Tomorrow, pancakes, muffins, fruit smoothies, mac and cheese, pizzas, chicken nuggets, grilled cheese sandwiches, breakfast cookies, granola bars and yogurt parfaits will all be made. The kids are helping a ton. Lilly is helping with breakfasts, Kylie with Lunches and Paige with dinners. Steve has been washing dishes like crazy to keep me stocked with pans, knives, measuring cups and spoons and clean cutting boards.
I'm really curious about this experiment. I believe it's going to be extremely beneficial. Something else I know about myself. I love to cook...but only on about 6 days of the month. I'm just to busy, tired or distracted to stop what I'm doing to cook every day. This plan should solve that.

If you'd like my plans, menus or budget, let me know. I'm happy to share.

A surprise

2011-10-27T20:47:00.001-07:00

Kylie has been sick all month. Her coughing finally got so bad that I took her into the doctors. Sam's leg has been hurting. So much that he's had difficulty sleeping. I took him into the doctors at the same time. Kylie's lungs and heart were listened to. They sound clear, though she has terrible bronchitis. It's viral-not so much a surprise.
Sam got an x-ray on his leg-we'll know tomorrow if it's anything but while he was with the doctor he coughed. The Dr. decided to listen to his lungs again and again and again. He then pronounced that Sam has pneumonia. We could get an x-ray to confirm but the boy has pneumonia BAD. That was a surprise!

I just got a free trial of Netflix. I have it streaming over the Wii. I could really use another Wii or xbox 360 so each sick kid can have control over netflix. I tell you, Kylie has no interest in watching 360 episodes of Power Rangers and Sam has no interest in watching Dr. Who from the beginning! Does anyone want to lend one of these out for a week? But not the Montano's because somehow I can never return things to them in a timely manner. It's terrible I tell you! Terrible! but to show how great they are, they still call us friends! Though they should never lend us anything again ;)

Some of my favorite learning sites

2011-10-27T19:11:00.000-07:00

Because I homeschool all 5 children, I am familiar with ALOT of different educational programs. I thought I'd share what is being used in the house this year and what I absolutely love...
Kylie:
is participating in an online high school through K12. I've used K12 for many different grades. It is challenging, engaging, easy to use though time consuming and most of my children have had success using it. Kylie is taking Comprehensive Biology, Honors English, Computer Literacy and Modern World History through K12.

Math: Algebra II through Thinkwell. Thinkwell is by far my favorite online math program. If you have anyone that struggles with math or needs to be challenged check it out. It goes from 6th grade up through college level

Foreign Language: Spanish via Rosetta Stone online. It's a good year for her.

Paige:
Online high school through K12. She is taking Physical Science, Computer Literacy, Literary Analysis and Comprehension, Modern World History.
Her math is through Thinkwell and Spanish through Rosetta Stone. A very similar schedule to Kylies.

Lilly:
Math: Mathwhizz This is an online math program that is constantly testing, teaching, re-teaching until mastery is achieved. Lilly really likes it. You can get a free trial to the program. It covers K-8th grade. It is for kids who have difficulty in math or are missing chunks. I like it because Lilly likes it :)

Reading: Ticket to Read I can not say enough about this site. It's super cheap-I think $30 for the year. It covers reading speed, comprehension, vocabulary etc. It's fast, engaging and has made a huge difference. For 3rd grade on up. AMAZING!!!!!!!

Foreign Language: Rosetta Stone-Swedish

Science: Supercharged Science is a full and engaging online science curriculum. The experiments are fantastic and WORK. It is laid out in an incredibly easy way to use. Works from K-12th grade. I can't say enough about how great and impressive the experiments are. You can sign up for a 1 month trial for $1. It's how we got hooked :)

Writing: Institute for Excellence in Writing. aka IEW. (not an online program) I'm a HUGE fan of this curriculum. It teaches every aspect of writing in a fun, engaging way. You watch a video lecture by Andrew Pudewa (who is really funny to my kids) and then you have assignments that take up the rest of the week. I've learned so much. My kids have learned even more. It's worth EVERY SINGLE PENNY in my book.

Spelling: All about Spelling. (not an online program) Did you know that Y makes 4 different sounds? Can you name them? I could name 3 quite easily but it wasn't until I started teaching spelling using this curriculum that I learned the 4th plus so many other amazing things. If you have a kid doesn't retain spelling through rote memorization then teach them the rules and principles. I really like this program

Art: online drawing program Mark Kistler. You can do lots of lessons for free at the site. When you get ready to buy, buy it through Homeschool Buyers Co-op

Sam:
Math: Khan Academy (which is free-really! check it out) and TenMarks. Sam is really quick in math so I'm always needing to find ways that he can work ahead and at his pace. Both of these sites allow for that. Khan Academy is just fun for him to see how many of the subjects he has mastered. TenMarks moves quickly, methodically, teaches well via video and we like it. It's reasonably priced which makes ma happy.

Reading: Ticket to Read (see above recommendation)

Spelling: All about Spelling

Writing: Institute for Excellence in Writing (aka IEW)

Handwriting: Handwriting without Tears This is the only program I use for teaching handwriting. It's efficient, logical, no-nonsense, easy to learn and memorable. It teaches through first time printing through cursive. Love it!

Explode the Code. My kids do explode the code from level 1 through level 8. It reinforces and teaches handwriting, phonics, vocabulary, reading comprehension etc. They do a lesson per day. It makes me happy and gets in extra practice in those tough to learn skills that need to be developed through repetition and work.

Foreign Language: Rosetta Stone French

Science: Supercharged Science

History: BrainPOP Sam can spend hours on this site watching animated movies about almost anything you can think of -History, Science, Math, Language Arts etc. He is a fact quoting machine partly due to this site. He loves it and chooses to go on it even when it's not school hours. A mothers dream :)

Sarah:
Math: Destination Math. This is an online program that I found via Homeschool Buyers Co-op (it's where I do most of my online purchasing because it is so much cheaper) You can get a free 1 month trial through the co-op. It aligns with Saxon math. Sarah really likes it and spends quite a bit of free time using it.

Reading: Reading Eggs. This is THE GREATEST SITE OF ALL TIME! Did you hear me? THE GREATEST SITE OF ALL TIME!!!! It is fun, engaging and the kids LEARN! You can sign up for a free trial. I dare you to! You will then buy a 1 year subscription to it. It is worth far more than what they charge. Right now it is for K-3rd grade. It offers phonics lessons in a very logical order. Spelling tests, Writing contests etc. They are expanding their website in November to take their curriculum up through 7th grade. I can hardly wait! If you do nothing else, go check out Reading Eggs. (I'm talking to you Kristin ;)

Handwriting: Handwriting without Tears, Explode the Code level A B C

Phonics/Spelling: All About Spelling and a lot of lapbooks made using Homeschool Share
Lapbooks are one of the best ways to teach and engage children. It incorporates writing, cutting, coloring, math, critical thinking and great literature. All great combinations. (Kristin you would LOOOVE lapbooking )

In our home, we do a lot of art projects, a ton of reading aloud (I am currently reading The Lost Hero aloud to the kids during our lunch hour) Sam reads aloud everyday to me. I read aloud to Sarah every day. Paige, Lilly and Kylie all read to themselves daily.
We also cook and bake A LOT! Here is the list of baking from this week alone:
Breadsticks
Cinnamon Rolls
Cheesy bread knots
Cinnamon rolls
Owl cupcakes
breadsticks
rice pudding
We clearly bake a lot of bread items...but I have 5 kids home all day-they have to eat something ;)

So favorite things in no particular order:
Online programs and resources:

Homeschool Buyers Co-op
Thinkwell Math
Khan Academy
Reading Eggs
Ticket to Read
Homeschool Share
Supercharged Science

In your lap programs:
IEW
All about Spelling
Explode the Code

Thanks for letting me share and for those with kids under 7, to check out Reading Eggs now!

How does a year fly by so quickly?

2011-10-17T09:59:00.000-07:00

Here is our family status/updates:
Steve graduated in June with his Masters degree from Seattle Pacific University. We are very proud of him and glad we got through that 3 year stint of no hubby or dad on many nights :)

I had the craziest summer ever and am still trying to recover-way too much volunteer work and not enough family time. I just got back from a General Conference Trip with Lilly-it was such a lovely time. Lilly is a lovely, lovely girl!

Kylie is doing online High School and is loving it! She is a Sophomore It's good to have her home with us this year. Kylie is also writing songs and is fiercely good!

Paige is also doing online High School this year. We moved her up a year and she is all of a sudden a freshman in high school. Craazy! She loves early morning seminary. She has been running cross country for Jackson HS and has done great. Paige is a gifted pianist who can play anything you can hum. She can be found at the piano playing and singing constantly.

Lilly is homeschooled-7th grade. She and I were in Utah for a several days for General Conference. We attended 3 sessions. She got autographs of John Bytheway and the actor who played Levi Savage in the 17 miracles DVD. She also got to steal her best friend Elana for a couple of days and we headed down to Moab to Arches. We hiked to Delicate Arch. Amazing!!!

Sam is homeschooled-4th grade. What a kid! Smart, insightful, creative, imagination like you can't believe and a little charmer. His Little League team won the division championship this year (his dad is the coach). It was a really exciting time. Their record was 18-1-1. Championship game? We stomped :)

Sarah is homeschooled-Kindergarten. She is funny, smart, a good friend and the big news is she taught herself how to ride a bike! (Holly Moore gave her a 5 min. tutorial using a magic bike and Sarah was riding on her own 2 hours later-no joke!)

So since last year things I would like to remember and sometime document?
Funeral of Barbara B. Smith and children meeting the prophet
Halloween dinner
Thanksgiving and reuniting with Andrew-a truly miraculous time in our lives
Harry Potter in the snow and the adventure getting back home from Seattle alive ;)
Singing in the Forgotten Carols
Christmas Eve-new candles, friends and chimes
Building a bed for Kylie's Christmas present
Glass Blowing Studio field trip
Paige's diagnosis of a bone tumor and all of the difficulties, tender mercies and soul changing effects this is still having on us
Trek Choir!!!!!!! Come thou Fount, How Firm a Foundation-I'm the luckiest girl in the world to be able to direct those great kids.
Trek
Birth of Isa ( I acted as the doula for my sisters natural childbirth-it was awesome)
Chisholm intervention
Lilly graduating from Primary and entering Young Womens
Baptisms for the Dead with all 3 daughters in the SL Temple
Andrew and Karens wedding

Things like this! Whew! Posted before the year mark...way to go me :)

A threat!

2010-11-04T17:46:00.000-07:00

My dear, dear friend Kristin emailed me yesterday and told me if I didn't update my blog soon, she was going to take me off of her blogroll. So Kristin, this one is for you!

We just got home from a great fieldtrip. We went to Olympia this morning and the older girls toured the State Capitol and then participated in a Mock Legislative Session with the other homeschooling kids we hang out. They really enjoyed it. While they were there, the little ones and I went to the Childrens Museum. We then all met up and the girls gave us a private tour of the Capitol. It is such a beautiful building. We then drove and met our Homeschooling Gang for 2 1/2 hours of Laser Tag. It was AWESOME! I'm tired!

Kylie is attending High School this year and has a great group of friends. She really enjoys early morning seminary and most things about school. She is an exceptional student and great girl.

Paige, Lilly and Sam are homeschooled and we are having a great time. We have some new favorite curriculums. First is ReadingEggs. Sam and Sarah looove it and it cracks the rest of us up. Highly recommend it. The girls love the Institute for Excellence in Writing Course. I've learned alot. We are using Pandia Press' History and Science this year. So enjoyable to both teach and learn.
So far for fieldtrips we have done a 3 day camp at the Olympic National Forest, a Challenge Ropes Course, a Tribal Edge Wilderness Experience, a fantastic play "The Borrowers",
the Sol Duc HotSprings and a Pumpkin Patch. It's been a good start to a great year.

For extra curriculur activities Paige and Lilly are in a Musical Theatre Production; Sam is taking drum lessons and rock climbing every week. Paige and Lilly rotate months with Rock Climbing. I still run the High School Vocal Group for Kylie and Paige after school on Fridays. We have a great group of kids and they can really sing. It's fun.

Sarah as always is a delight. She gets to play with a friend 2 mornings a week and has a preschool co-op again this year. She is funny, imaginative, sassy and quite independent.

Steve is in his last quarter of graduate school. Yay Steve!
That's all I've got today! Kristin, are you happy? love you

What I'm Doing

2010-07-21T11:25:00.000-07:00

So, I'm down alot right now with some occasional trips into the living room to read aloud to my kids. We're working on Percy Jackson Book 4. We love Percy Jackson.

This week I've hand cut 12 little birds out of felt. Stitched them, stuffed them, made wings for them, added little eyes and a bit of rosy-ness to their cheeks. They are for girls camp-the girls camp that I'm not attending anymore. I did make an extra bird with a broken wing to represent me :)

I've started knitting squares for a blanket. I don't like the original yarn I used so I'm starting over with a different blend. The blanket is sooooo fantastic.

I've started blogging again.

I've been watching the TV Series 'Life'. It's great. It was only on for 2 seasons and I own both seasons. I'm on Season 1, disc 3.

I've visited with friends who have dropped by so I don't go stir crazy. Thanks friends!

I've had a Presidency Meeting on my bed, done a lot of computer work and have been finishing up all girls camp responsibilities so the new Teepee mom can just step into camp.

Thats it!

I love...

2010-07-15T14:10:00.000-07:00

I love So You Think You Can Dance! Just thought I'd share :)

July is sometimes a difficult month :)

2010-07-15T14:04:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, as I was walking from our back door to the backyard, I missed a step on a cobblestone. I don't know how I did that...I think I must have been focusing on the chickens. Down, down, down I went.
I'm not going to go into the emotional trauma of knowing that I just severely injured my ankle again and exactly what that means. I'm not going into the difficulty of moving and getting to xray equipment. I'm not going into the difficulty of hearing the reality of this injury from my faithful doctor...
suffice it to say "It is what it is!" My household knows what to do with this extensive injury and it'll eventually be ok again. Something freaky though...this ankle injury happened on the 3 yr anniversary of my broken ankle from trek...freakkkkkkkkyyyyyyyyy.

The diagnosis; rupture of the collateral ligaments in the left ankle. 6 wks non weight bearing-crutches, roller cart...at 6 weeks a high probability of surgery being needed.

and here we go again....

Reflections on the past year

2010-07-15T13:14:00.000-07:00

I was reading my friends blog the other day and I'm listed in the sidebar as a blog that she reads. I haven't posted in 8 months and her blog lists that. That is so wrong.
So here are some reflections from this past year: btw; I think that this is going to be SO boring for anyone reading this who isn't me :)

We discovered Thinkwell for math and it is spectacular. They offer math, science, government classes. Prof. Burger teaches math and we love it. He is very funny and engaging.

We have been on amazing fieldtrips this year...Space Needle, Tillicum Village, USS Turner Joy, Olympic National Forest, Whale Watching in the San Juan Islands, Bainbridge Island Aquatic Center, Cirque de Soleil, International Childrens Festival, Pacific Science Center, Seattle Art Museum, Fiddler on the Roof, Boeing Tour, Whirly Ball, EMP, Sequim Wild Animal Park, Ceramics, NorthWest Train and Trek tour, Transiberian Orchestra and more.

Discovered Studio East Drama in Kirkland. They are an amazing drama facility that caters to homeschoolers during the day. Kylie participated in a year long Shakespeare class and performed 'A Midsummer Nights Dream' in April. It was great. Paige and Lilly were in a musical theater class and had a great time.

We had some big birthdays this year; Paige turned 12 and entered Young Womens, Sarah turned 4, Kylie turned 14, Sam turned 8 and was baptized and Lilly turned 11. WOW!

We do birthday parties on even years only but missed Lilly's last year so ALL the kids (except Sarah because I haven't done it yet ) had birthday parties in a 3 week period...

Lilly took her friends to a Japanese Hibachi Restaurant-so fun

Paige took 13 friends across the sound to the Bainbridge Island Aquatic Center for a pool party. They had a scavenger hunt on the ferry, lots of swimming, pizza back at home...fun

Kylie had a Mad Hatter Tea Party that was AMAZING...I couldn't have done it without all of the great women who helped me. We then took the kids to see Alice in Wonderland.
These 3 parties happened in one weekend.

Then Sam had a laser tag birthday party...best money ever spent for a group of boys.
Sam was baptized this year. Grandma Jenson came into town for it. His dad baptized . It was a him. I was really proud of Sam. What a boy.

For Christmas, I knitted all of my children their own fingerless mittens and hats...all unique to their personalities. Yay for knitting! Yay for me!

I finally found a tandem kayak in my secret kayak budget and bought if for Steve for Fathers Day. Yay for the family. It was a great surprise.

We have chickens now-6 total. They even have a coop. They lay awesome eggs-about 5 a day.

I was called as a ward organist-eeks! so I'm taking lessons from a great organist and am enjoying it but boy is it hard. Those darn, darn pedals...(btw, it's a secondary calling for me)

Took Paige to Utah for General Conference in April-12 year old tradition. It was wonderful. We took some family names and she performed baptisms in the SL temple for her first time with several cousins. We attended 3 sessions of Gen. Conf and loved it. It was a great mother daughter trip and I love this tradition.

Okay! Thats it for now! It's the next post that is more exciting :)

Hi!

2009-11-07T10:25:00.000-08:00

I was reading through some of my journals earlier this week and it seemed that every entry began with "I need to be better about writing more consistantly in my journal." It seems I need to begin with that thought today.

So much has been happening here-lots of learning, cleaning, playing, reading, cooking, baking, knitting, teaching, creating, sleeping...it seems whenever I get a moment to blog, I instead use the time to wander around others blogs. For instance, I now own 'Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a Day' because of a blog. It is a magical book and I highly recommend it.
I also am the owner of 'The Pioneer Womans Cookbook'. She seems to make my days easier-lighter somehow.
But that isn't what this post is about. This is what this post is about:

A friend 'found' me via facebook the other day. A friend I hadn't heard from in 20 years. It was someone I met while I was serving my mission in Canada. I was so amazed to hear from her that I went and dug out my old journals from that time. For the next two days, every spare moment was spent reading in my journals. I was 21 and 22 yrs. old. Wow! What an experience that was. In some ways I was surprised by things I wrote-trivial things, seemingly meaningless things now, horrified at what I chose not to write about-moments that changed my very being-things that still affect me today and grateful for the times when I wrote with clarity the true feelings of my soul and the moments that I recorded when someone stepped into my life and changed me for the better. I'm so glad I recorded those moments of kindness, concern, boldness and humor.

After closing back up the journals I realized that I genuinely miss some people in my life! Best friends, funny friends, genuine friends. I decided that if MaryAnn could find me, I could find my people! I have found a couple of them. It's been 16-18 years since I've spoken with them and we've had so much to catch up on that I decided I would make a list of the 20 things that they either wouldn't expect or should know has happened.

So this is a list of 20 things for my long lost friends! (Hi! long lost friends...it's good to have you back)

1. I homeschool all of my kids-all 5 of them! At times I've had all in public school, some at school, some at home, all at home. They are all home now! I have 4 girls and 1 boy, ages 13-3

2. All of my children were born at home-(it's a fascinating story-how that one started-ask one day and I'll tell you)

3. I ran a piano teaching studio when we lived in Georgia that at one point had 160 students/week. Now that's a lot of teaching.

4. I still compose music and have quite a portfolio. I even have most of it in sheet music form now.

5. I went 13 years being perfectly healthy (except for pregnancies-which were a nightmare-but the deliveries were sweet)

6. I'm not perfectly healthy anymore :[

7. We've lived one year in SLC, 8 yrs in Georgia and 9 yrs. in Seattle.

8. We moved to Seattle because it was the furthest we could drive from Georgia and it has the most beautiful flowers I've ever seen.

9. I love to read cookbooks

10. I'm currently the primary chorister

11. I have served as an early morning seminary teacher and in every presidency imaginable on both a ward level and a stake level.

12. For extra income that wouldn't take me from the home I've made and sold quilts, taught quilting classes, sold Stampin' Up!, taught piano and voice, professionally arranged music.

13. I rarely make breakfast. But on Easter Sunday, I go all out! The menu? Eggs Benedict with cheese sauce, fresh fruit, O.J. It's a tradition

14. Other family traditions? Christmas Eve I cook a traditional Scandinavian meal-red potatoes with parsley and butter, carrots, red cabbage with bacon and apples, swedish meatballs with lingonberries, courve sausage, and these little sausages that I don't know the name of but my Norwegian butcher does. Also, my kids get new PJ's every Christmas Eve! We read the Christmas story, sing alot and play chimes. We always spend this evening at home and typically invite 1 or 2 families to join us.

15. My family loves games. We love Five Crowns, Shanghai, Speed Scrabble, Scattergories, Golf-the card game. My children are ready to play at a moments notice. (I love puzzles!)

16. I wish I prayed more, used a softer voice more, attended the temple more, read the scriptures more, laughed more, composed more, had time with my husband more, more, more.

17. I'm not afraid to knock down walls, install and fix electrical, plumb a bathroom, install septic pumps, fix the wiring in a stove, paint, hammer, and find people who really know what they're doing to make sure I'm doing an okay job. I've learned almost everything via Google! and learned even more through trial and error.

18. My favorite hymns: How Firm a Foundation, Press Forward Saints-Ohh! they make me happy!
My favorite rocker is Rob Thomas-oh my word! I love him!!!

19. We've only had one major hospitilization with our children in all of these years. Our son Sam was in the hospital for several days and had emergency surgery for a life-threatening illness when he was 4. We feel very fortunate that he survived and came away whole.

20. Over the past 18 years Steve and I have had amazing experiences, brutally difficult experiences and 'we will never be able to survive this' experiences. We've experienced pure joy and happiness and struggled with seemingly simple problems and conflicts. We continue to sometimes trudge, mostly walk and occasionally run down this road of life and marriage. We are grateful to be together, that we have beautiful, healthy and bright children, that the gospel of Jesus Christ is in our lives, that we live in a place of our choosing and the list can go on and on. I am blessed!

Updates!

2009-09-20T22:13:00.000-07:00

Okay, again my mom is being stubborn and is refusing to update! So, she asked me to do a quick overview for you guys! Here it goes!

-ALL 4 of us are homeschooling this year! Its been crazy around here!!!
-We went to the Puyallip fair and the Rodeo there! (TONS of fun!)
-My Aunt Rachel is Married! (my moms sister)
-Went on vacation for 3 weeks! (our longest vacation ever)
-Yellowstone
-Horsback Riding
-Montana
-Idaho
-Utah
-Computer Trouble:( (NOT good)

If you guys want more details, I post on my blog! The link is on the side bar!
Hopefully my mom will post soon!

What does 100 mean to me?

2009-07-28T22:33:00.000-07:00

The number 100 is very interesting to me today. At times it represents how much weight I should probably lose. Other times it is the number I'm helping a child learn to count to-by ones, fives, tens etc. It seems to be the number of miles I drive in a day whenever I have the car. Today however it means something very different. It means heat, sweat, misery, longing for coolness and lots and lots of popsicles being eaten. Today the temperature where I live reached 101 degrees. This is a place where a hot day is considered 83 degrees. A heat wave is 3 days in the eighties. We have now had several days in a row feeling the agony of the upper 90's.

We do not have air conditioning. 90 % of the population here in Seattle does not have air conditioning. We have fans and really large windows that try to invite the sun in. Those windows are very good at their job and so? It is hot! (we wanted another fan yesterday but everyone was sold out. We hit Costco at the right moment as a worker was carting out a dozen fans they had just found. We got one of those. )

To help combat the heat today, I woke up early and duct taped tarps to my windows to cover them. I'm now the house with bright blue tarps duct taped with turquoise tape to my windows. Sweet! I think it helped. We've been living downstairs because it is cooler and a dozen kids have been living in my pool. In a 15 hour period 48 popsicles and about 30 otter pops have been consumed. No real food has been eaten because it is just too hot! Dinner was watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries and costco rolls.

Have I told you it's hot? It's suppose to be hotter tomorrow! Uugh!!!!!!!!

It Happened!

2009-07-18T00:41:00.000-07:00

It happened! That moment that every parent dreads! The one where you think you know where your youngest is, but they aren't there. The one where every backyard is searched in the culdesac, a huge contingency of neighbors are searching, people are calling out her name, 911 is called, a description is given down to her shoes...that moment happened!

I can tell you this; you find out who your neighbors are and what a community can do quickly! You find out the kindness of 911 dispatchers and the gentleness of police officers! You realize that prayers are said desperately while standing in the middle of a road waiting for reports of roads searched. That for every second that passes, internal agitation and fear increase yet outward calmness seems to rule the hour.

It was a very long hour. The two little girls, ages 3 and 4 (the 3 yr. old being mine) told me that they were going to walk to the 4 yr olds house to see her bedroom. She lives very far away. I said no. They then told the 4 yr olds mother. She said no! They walked out the door and went anyways (no one knew they walked away). They crossed a busy road together-proud of themselves that they did it safely. They walked many blocks until the road came to an end. Then the 3 yr old knew she was lost. She began to cry. Someone called 911. The police were there in moments, the message was relayed to me -they were safe! A dad ran, a neighbor ran, 3 kids ran and bikes and vans from the search party converged on the place of safety- just to make sure it was true. I couldn't run. I stayed where I was planted-in the middle of the road desperately praying that it was them.

She safely came home to my arms. Many prayers were answered through the kindness of friends and strangers. I feel blessed!

I'm touched by those who offered up prayers in cars, on the sidewalks, while searching backyards. I'm even more touched that everyones concern was for the missing girls and not one comment was made to blame me for this difficult moment. Thank you for your kindness, true compassion and concern. I thank everyone who jumped in today to help. People are genuinely good!

Aargh!

2009-07-11T21:46:00.001-07:00

So...I've taken up knitting! I love it. I've knitted hats, leg warmers, little animals and stuff. I decided to take on a bigger project. This darling tee for Sarah. I made it about 30 rows into it-which is very complicated because of the way the directions are written, learning new definitions, and knitting this all in one piece-including sleeves-which I was in the middle of. I was looking over my progress and saw that on row 11 I made a MAJOR error! Do I leave it alone? NO!!!!!!!!!

So, I just ripped out the tee and am getting ready to start over! I sure am learning alot though :)
I'll post a picture when I have it done.

Thoughts

2009-07-04T12:01:00.001-07:00

When I began this blog, it was for the intent and purpose of keeping a journal of my family and our happenings...all so I could print out a book every year and have that be a scrapbook of sorts that represented us well...I haven't been doing a very good job that. Only two posts in June, 1 in May and now 1 in July. There is always room for improvement...so let the improvement begin!

My (oldest? eldest?) daughter Kylie has been sending out a quote a day via email. Her quotes are well thought out. She searches great books, movies and great figures to find them. I told her she should have a Quote of the Day Blog because others would love these. So...without further ado, I give you Kylie's Quotes. Please visit her blog for little bits of humor, insight and happiness.

At this very moment I am sitting in the kitchen typing away on my laptop. I have strawberries with sugar doing that juicy, softening, sweetening thing that they do to my right. Behind me I have the cut off scraps that I just trimmed off of a soon to be Strawberry Shortcake Cake . To the left of me I have a tray of Texas Sheet Cake that I just cut into the cutest diamond shapes. Behind the laptop the cream cheese is softening for the frosting that will soon complete the strawbery shortcake cake. Sugar is spilled on the countertop, a small metal bowl has the strawberry tops in them, an orange plastic cup is filled with ice and Diet Coke with Lime, every fan is on in the house, all of the children are ouside swimming in the pool and life is good!!!

How's that for a run on sentence! Wow!!! We are spending the 4th celebrating with lots of good friends. Our family is in charge of desserts! At the party we will add homemade chocolate marshmallow ice-cream to the list of yummy, sweet things to eat.

(I have rephrased a few things in the next paragraph since originally posting. Just to hehlp clarify.)
This morning at a large church breakfast I had a really interesting conversation. It was about children and independence. I let my kids have quite a bit of independence. They go on long bike rides together. They go running together. They play out front without me and they swim in my backyard without my constant supervision. The question was "How did I know when to let them go? and how did I let them when the neighbors would question my parenting?" Parents seem to be extreme in their supervision in this area. I grew up in a large family with very little parental supervision but there was always sibling supervision. I know that some neighbors probably think that we are far too lax in the freedoms we give our kids. I'm willing to deal with those thoughts in order to help my children be independent in a safe manner. My reply was "If you micromanage your children then they will need to be micromanaged as adults. When will they be able to solve problems, take a stand or think on their own. Will they wait to be told what to think, what to do and how to do it?"

I then realized another aspect of homeschooling. My children are not micromanaged in learning. I use to micromanage that but have changed drastically over the past 18 months. All of my kids know that they are responsible for their learning. I will provide and be there every moment but it comes down to desire, motivation, context and often need. I also provide them experiences, lots of reading aloud, exposure to new things, the time, tools and mentors needed to explore many different subjects, talents etc.

I don't want any of my children to grow up having become comfortable being micromanaged in any way, shape or form.

My thoughts from breakfast :)

Since beginning this post, there has been an hour pause. In that hour, the strawberry shortcake cake has been completed-it is beautiful!!! Texas Sheet Cake has been plated, 20 carrots cut into sticks, 20 stalkes of celery cut into stalks, 4 cucumbers sliced on a mandolin (my husband cut his thumb very deeply using the mandolin-darn!), broccoli and cauliflower ready for the veggie trays and I chatted with the neighbors outside while watching my 3 year old streak through the street buck naked! I guess she is stating her independence :) Gotta love it!

Message From Kylie

2009-06-26T21:44:00.000-07:00

This is Chari's daughter Kylie speaking:

I am sorry that my mother is not posting on her blog! We have done TONS since the last time she posted! Camping, Talent Shows, Day Camps, Adjudications...
Your guys job is to comment on this blog and tell her she needs to post(she wont listen to me) and then she will post!!!
THANK YOU for your help!!!
I know you guys love this blog and so do I!
-Kylie (her 13 year old daughter)

new...

2009-05-19T20:46:00.000-07:00

I'm so tired of seeing my last post that I'm stopping by to just chat! Hi! So, happenings in this house have been:

Sam turned 7. I love him! He continually challenges me in my thoughts and parenting skills. He is creative and bright and funny and I adore him! He says the funniest things. Today he was next door with me while I was chatting me the mom. He suddenly said "Mom, I have to go home! There is a damsel in distress!" and out the door he went. He cracks me up!

Mothers Day: I'm so blessed to have my 5 beautiful children. I often feel overwhelmed at the responsibility and duties which I have to help them learn to traverse this very interesting world! They are delightful, challenging, funny, helpful, kind, amazing musicians and I'm glad they are mine. I spent a good portion of that day thinking of all the years that I yearned for children and didn't have them. It's amazing how life changes :)

I know how to knit! I am a beginner only but I can: Cast on, knit, purl, cast off, kss, add one, yarn over...I love it, love it, love it! I've knitted a ball, a washcloth, a pair of leg warmers for Sarah and I'm working on leg warmers for Lilly. I've discovered Debbie Bliss and ravelry. I love, love, love them both! I want to knit socks, sweaters, hats, gloves, and the cutest little elephant I found yesterday. Did I tell you that I love to knit?

I'm back in an ankle brace-Darn! Tarpal Tunnel. PT, lots and lots of ice, some shot therapy-Darn!

I am however walking about 4 miles a day now-I know because of my lil' pedometer. I have a favorite walk that is just over 3 miles. I've walked it everyday this past week. It's great mental therapy for me.

For those that know me, I'm a pianist. Bring it on and I can do practically anything on the piano. I however am not an organist. I've had to play the organ twice at church this past month for sacrament meeting. Oh, the stress! The duress! The agony! Alright, it wasn't that bad but it is the organ :)

I made the cutest-and I mean the cutest-puppies for a baby shower. I made them out of chenille, flannel, felt and they were one of the hits of the baby shower. (don't you wish I had a picture?)

I made fried chicken for the first time. It needed a lot more seasoning-not sure it was worth the oil, calories or time.

Whew! I feel caught up now...till next week! Promise!

Jon asked for my help

2009-04-16T13:25:00.000-07:00

I have a good friend from ages ago. His name is Jon Schmidt. Many of you have probably heard of him and his stuff. If you haven't, you should! He is an AMAZING pianist, composer, performer, recording artist, teacher and friend. We met in college at the University of Utah. He was my accompanist when I use to perform alot. He even played at my wedding reception. He has asked for my help and so I am asking for your help!

He has a new youtube video that he would like to get into the eye of the 'public'. I just watched it and it's great. Typical Jon Schmidt fashion...fun, whimsical and you just want to keep on listening.

Please take a moment and enjoy his stuff. He is truly gifted and he's my friend (who asked for my help :)

Also, head over to his site HERE and listen to WATERFALL. It's SOOOO much fun to play!
Thanks friends! I know I can count on you! (okay, that is a mothers guilt comment-but in my defence, I am a mother of 5 ;)

It's Farm Monday at the Big Red Barn

2009-04-13T09:41:00.001-07:00

My kids and I go to a farm every Monday and participate in a small 4-H club. We are learning how to raise chickens, sheep, rabbits and goats. It's a great time for all.

Since we began this adventure in January, 6 baby lambs have been born. We have been responsible for going on two different days and taking care of all of the feedings. Trust me-that's alot of animals to take care of. It took us just under 3 hours to feed and water all of the animals.

There are about 80 chickens/roosters,

24 sheep,

6 baby lambs,

8 goats and 3 rabbits.

Normally all of the kids work outside together taking care of the evening feeding. They will work with their specific animal-holding it, walking it, bonding with it. (the kids will eventually attend the fair in August and 'show' these animals in front of judges) Then the gang will go inside and learn more 'stuff'. Lila and Dave who run this club are great! Some kids want to learn to sew, cook, knit etc. We've taken care of all of those things at our home so my gang is focusing on animals.

We love Farm Monday. We've worked through rain, snow, sun, wind, rain, rain, rain...we love it!

It's Knitting Wednesday

2009-04-08T13:01:00.001-07:00

Okay, when I wrote this it was Wednesday. It is now Thursday! I'm still keeping the title as is ;)

We knit! We especially knit on Wednesdays! A good friend offered to teach me and my girls how to knit and she has brought more to the table than I could have ever dreamed of.

We have learned about the different types of fibers and touched all of them-from angora to cashmere to camel. So much fun.

We have opened and spun a silkworm.

We made our own spinners and we know how to use them. This is the silk from the silkworm that has been spun by Paige into useable silk. (Wow! Figure out that sentence :)_)

We have combed two different types of fibers together to make them one. We've blended colors by combing. We've felted wool and made little orbs-we consider this our own solar system.

And now? we are knitting. We're knitting balls using 3 different colors-Today we are going to learn how to cast off and we will finish the ball. Then a new project will come. All from my friend! We love Wednesdays! (I've lost the camera with the photos of the current knitting project. I'll post a photo when I find the lost camera.)

WICKED

2009-03-19T13:49:00.000-07:00

March 13-14, 2009

I'll let the pictures do the talking :)

Kylie just realized that she is not going to go get braces. A different surprise awaits her!

A great little birthday book that announces a drive to Portland Oregon where a hotel stay awaits and tickets to Wicked! Surprise is an understatement.

The family outside of Keller Auditorium. It's getting exciting!

The stage before the show begins-we had amazing seats!

While walking back to the hotel (the beautiful waterfront Marriott), we passed by the stage door and saw that all of the actors were leaving. We stayed and met all of the actors. They were sooo generous and kind. They signed the girls playbills and took photos with them. Here is the Wizard!

Fiero

Elphaba

We waited the longest for her. She had to shower all of her green makeup off. Truly worth the wait.

Glinda

I can't begin to tell you the excitement we all felt as we finished walking back to the hotel. We met them! The amazing actors who transported us away for three hours to a wonderful world of song, dance, love, betrayel, cheers, tears and applause.

We were on this grand adventure with our dear, dear friends Eddie and Mindee. Here we are enjoying a midnight dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. YUM! YUM! YUM! Kylie of course ordered a club sandwich-her favorite.

Talk about string cheese!

Perfectly Wicked T-Shirts to end a perfectly Wicked Weekend!

Love you, girls!

Sam the Author

2009-03-19T13:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Sam asked if he could publish a book. I said of course! I've been waiting and waiting for my 6 yr. old son to show any interest in reading or writing of any kind. This seemed to be an interest. I sat at the computer and Sam dictated a story to me. ( I found it very difficult to not edit his words or sentence structure but I stayed true to his words.) He broke it down into chapters, drew pictures to go with each chapter and was very specific about titles of chapters, names of characters etc. It was a great experience. We then printed it out and put it in book form. He's asked his sisters, dad and me to read it to him several times since yesterday morning.

This morning Sam woke up early. He was ready to publish book 2 in his series. We just finished. He was better organized this morning. He would draw a picture for a chapter before we went on and label it with the corresponding chapter number so there would be no confusion later in assembling the book. I was very impressed with his use of appropriate, descriptive language. I can't share that with him so I'm sharing it here.

His books are about war; the China War to be specific. It begins in 2009. Here is a snippet from book 1 (5 chapters) and book 2 (6 chapters). Keep in mind that Sam does not read. We read aloud ALOT in this house and watch great history channel shows and documentaries and lots of other stuff that is just plain entertaining.

Book 1 The China War

Chapter 1
Ready for Battle

It all started when we were in Germany. While fighting the Germans a new Air Force arrived in the skies. It was China! We were surprised and shocked by the attack coming from the air. The Chinese attack was vicious and they were after our leader, Sergeant Daniel.

Daniel barely avoided destruction by jumping out of his airplane using his trusty parachute. Co-Captain Jackie also jumped to safety. Once on the ground they avoided capture by Chinese officers. They got low in the grass. They were quick to shoot and quickly ran to the woods to find cover.

Once in the woods, Daniel and Jackie called base camp. Their instructions were to sit tight! And stay put! A rescue team was on its way.

Two hours and twenty minutes later Daniel and Jackie could hear the thump, thwump, thump of the tank. With the tank came 20 men, including their long time friends, Jackson, Cody and Zack. They were rescued.

Book 2 The Revenge of China

Chapter 5
Support Arrives

We got help with 1,000,000 men. From the British we got 8080. We were ready to strike the enemy dead.

We charged the enemy with our bayonets. They were surprised and responded. Their 19 tanks fired. Our 18 tanks fired back. We destroyed them. We destroyed their hope.

We entered the enemy camp. It was surrounded by enemy soldiers. We weren’t afraid. We were going to take back our ground.

We lost 101 men. They lost 888 men. Finally, the Air Force came and bombed, bombed, bombed the enemy. We were winning!

Chapter 6
China Retreats Again

It was Friday. We won the war. We smashed our enemies. We crushed them with our heart. We fought with our bravery. Many comrades fell but we did win. I was happy about it all.

We were very sad we lost so many of our friends in the first war. We faced the consequences. We knew what would happen in the war. I lived in this war also. I stayed with the Air Force. My new friends and some of my old friends served with me in the Air Force. Some of my new friends served in the Navy. I love my friends. This was the day we fought together in bravery with all of our soldiers.

The End!

I think his use of descriptive words is quite amazing. The numbers he uses cracks me up. It shows his experience in the world of numbers and his age well.

This is a good day for us. I've had to be very patient with Sam and his interests and be okay letting go of 'traditional' learning. It has been hard every day to let him be. These last couple of days are a payoff for that patience. He is loving this. He is already thinking out the plot of book 3 in the continuing saga of The China War. I'm so pleased.

A Very Happy Birthday

2009-03-14T21:28:00.000-07:00

Today my beautiful daughter Kylie is 13. My first born is a teenager. Moments I have been reflecting on all day:

1. A favorite family story revolves around the day Kylie was born. My water broke at 5:30 a.m. I was so excited. We knew she was coming. Steve was a senior in college and this day happened to be the day of his finals. I began laboring at about 8:30 a.m. Steve called all of his professors by 9:00 a.m. and asked if he could come right away and take his finals due to my being in labor-two of them were that afternoon-All of his professors said stay with your wife, have a baby and Congratulations! They all gave him A's.

2. The moment she was finally in my arms. We had waited for such a long, long time. It was such a peaceful delivery. Only two midwives, my husband and myself were present. I was on the daybed. Steve helped deliver her and there she was-in my arms. I kept her for hours and hours. Every day getting to hold her, read to her, sing to her, rock her, walk for hours on end with her were a dream come true.

3. The first book I ever read to her was 'Go! Dog, Go!' She was three days old. OHHHHH such a happy, happy moment. (I had been building a family library since the time we had married. Every month I would purchase one book to add to it-it accumulated quickly over those years.)

4. On reflection, I think she might have been a very colicky baby, but we were so happy to have a baby we thought she was perfectly divine. The one thing that would always calm her was to walk her to a small grove of trees that was on our block. She would stare and stare at the trees and would immediately react in a peaceful way. I used to tease her that she must have been a tree architect in heaven before she came to earth.

5. Kylie was 21 months old when we left her with a babysitter for the first time. It was the week before her sister was born. I never had the desire to leave her, I never wanted too and I never, ever let random people just hold her! Ever!!!

6. Kylie's 2 year old birthday party was AMAZING! We threw a carnival for her. It included cookie decorating, go fish, sand sculptures, musical chairs, a huge clown with balloons that my dear friend Tami made and a carousel cake that I made. We haven't thrown a party like that since ;) First borns-it's amazing what we get out of our system with them.

7. When Kylie was 4 years old, all she wanted for Christmas was a bookshelf filled with books. Santa complied :) She has loved reading, learning, exploring and engaging herself in scholarly ways since I can remember.

8. Kylie learned to read in October when she was 6. We worked for three weeks together playing some games every day and she was reading. Three weeks after that she read the entire 'Little House on the Praire Series'. Her next series was 'Chronicles of Narnia'. I haven't been able to keep her sufficiently supplied in books since!

9. When I began homeschooling, Kylie would get up every morning and be sooo excited for learning that day. We would do a whole day of school and she would want more...and more...and more. I could never bore her if there was learning to be had.

10. Kylie was by my side for the births of her other 4 siblings. She remembers all of these births. She was calm and quiet. She would pat my shoulder or rub my back. She would bring me a drink-I was glad she was there.

11. Kylie loves to play games. Scrabble, Speed Scrabble, Yahtzee, Carcasonne, Sudoku, Five Crowns, Rook, Golf...I could go on and on and on. She loves to play games

12. I love the fact that Kylie is never frightened or hesitant to go into a new situation or environment. Her first time attending public school didn't concern her at all. Her first time sleeping away was exciting, Her first time going to week long camp-thrilled! I LOVE, love, love that about her. Kind of a 'Bring it On' attitude.

13. The simplest things make Kylie happy; telling a new story from my life-any type of story-she just wants to hear one, hanging out with adults and being a passive listener or a part of the conversation, hanging out with friends, watching a good episode of T.V., a good book and music!

I love you Kylie! You are bright, studious, reflective, kind, musical, responsible, a great story teller and I love you very, very much. I'm honored to be your mother!

Who Decides?

2009-03-10T15:55:00.001-07:00

I've been thinking a lot about relevancy. Who do we allow to decide what is relevant in our lives? Who decides what is relevant learning? Having spent almost a year in a far more unstructured 'schooling' atmosphere (which has made for a far more continual learning atmosphere because learning is never placed on a book shelf when completed) I believe that much of what we are told must be learned is irrelevant! I'm watching my children sprout in unexpected ways-I'm letting them sprout, encouraging them, occasionally steering them but mostly providing resources to their interests. All of this is relevant to them individually. Almost none of it is prescribed by 'educational benchmarks'.
I do not believe that you have to write an essay every day for 10 years to eventually become a thoughtful, understood writer. I believe that when the need arises, a 'student' will then work voraciously to master that task. There will be purpose and relevancy at that point. To force it any earlier is a mistake. Hmm! I find it fascinating the changes that have occurred in myself over the past year-It's been a surprising experiment in listening to the needs and desires of a child and following through on those needs and desires versus what the world tells us is necessary for that child.
Enlightening, fascinating, at times frightening and empowering!

The wait is over

2009-03-10T11:40:00.000-07:00

Well...out of 25 eggs, not one of them hatched! What a total bummer. We candled the eggs today to try and figure out what happened. It seems that most of the eggs were infertile to begin with. We had a spike in temperature on day 8 and I'm wondering if that ended the process for our poor little eggs. The kids are determined to have this experience so we are going to try again. I just need to figure out where to get the eggs this time around! Life experiences-always interesting!

We're Waiting with Anticipation

2009-03-09T13:22:00.000-07:00

It's day 21 in our egg incubation experiment. This is the day that the chicks are suppose to hatch! We are watching and waiting with bated breath...I'll post photos if any of them begin hatching. Wish us luck!

Post Trauma

2009-03-02T11:25:00.000-08:00

It's Monday! The sky is blue and sunny. It's chilly but sunny...a good type of day here in Seattle. Thank you for all of the personal emails regarding my trauma of last week. I'm posting the follow up that has been requested, demanded, needed etc.

So...the story goes like this...Thursday morning came early with a light snowfall. I personally thought that was a perfect reason for not showing up for my surgery but my husband reminded me that my dentist lived a mile from our house and he would know about the area snow. If he can make it, then I can make it! Rude of him, I thought! So off we went.

Once at the office, I was pulled back into the room. I'm pretty sure I started having a panic attack. Bart came in and I was sitting on a bench. I started crying. I did not want to do this. He understood, let me cry for awhile. I guess he knew I'd give up eventually-it actually only took about 15 minutes for me to get in 'the chair'. Pretty good considering. Once I got in the chair, Bart was fast! He was getting me numb within a moment. From there I didn't feel anything. Bart kept talking, I kept trying to breathe slowly. The surgery took about 45 minutes. Bart said it went well and we'll have to wait and see if the bone takes the graft. We'll take x-rays in 6 months and then again in a year. Hopefully it works.

I came home, took lots of drugs - prescribed of course and did my best to sleep it off. I'm still taking pain medication but not as often and it's sore but not as bad as I was thinking it would be. The best part? It's done! Thanks for all of the thoughts sent my way! It truly is a traumatic thing for me but I'm trusting a little bit more after this surgery.

Everyone have a great day! I'm off to scrapbook!!!

Trauma!

2009-02-25T17:34:00.000-08:00

I have HUGE dental phobias! I have had the worst luck with dentists, procedures...everything associated with the evil career. The thought of having to see a dentist makes me want to throw up. I start panicking, shaking and just want to die! Are you getting the point yet that I am terrified of all things dental?
Well, tomorrow I have to have not just a procedure but surgery. I guess I have a hole in my jaw bone that is getting larger and it is infected. It's been bothering me for a very long time but I have that phobia thing going...
I'm actually good friends with an endodontist and over the past couple of months he's been trying to get me to go see a colleague of his...I haven't done that. I genuinely can't! Huge trust thing I guess...so my friend scheduled surgery for me and is doing the procedure tomorrow himself.
Since he scheduled this I've had non-stop nightmares. I'm not kidding. I wake up trying to run away as fast as I can. I'm tired and stiff and sweating. If I think about it, I begin to cry.

I've lived in Israel during a time of conflict! I didn't cry due to fear! I've delivered 5 babies naturally-never cried due to fear. Tell me I have to have a procedure done at the dentist, I cry like a baby!
Okay, I will admit, it is a big deal oral surgery. I will be awake for it...and I'm sure crying like a baby!
Tomorrows going to be a bad, bad day!

Douglas H. Smith, the only grandfather I've ever known

2009-02-18T11:36:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago I got a call I knew would be coming sometime soon. Doug Smith had passed away. My heart was saddened. I called Barbara right away. I love them. When I was in my teens, they moved into our neighborhood. They had 3 grandchildren living with them and I became very good friends with their granddaughter, Julie. I was adopted into that household as one of their own grandchildren. Doug and Barbara have been a part of my life ever since. When Steve and I were married, it was Doug who performed our marriage. It was Barbara who sat on one side of me in the temple acting as my surrogate grandmother. When big problems have arisen I've gone to them for counsel. It is always wise counsel. I love them with all of my heart.
I decided I needed to be at Dougs funeral so I packed up the five kids and drove to Utah for a few days. It was a great trip...I'll post more about that later.

The funeral was so beautiful. Presiding was Pres. Thomas S. Monson, the prophet and president of the LDS church. He spoke and Elder Packer spoke. On the stand sat Elders Holland, Ballard, Scott and Nelson. The spirit was strong and I was so grateful we choose to go. At the gravesite, Pres. Monson spoke to every child-including my own. He shook their hands, gave hugs and smiled lots. I feel so honored and priviledged to have this amazing family in my life.

Some Doug stories...Doug and Barbara LOVE playing Rummikub. Sunday nights you could find Barbara, Julie, myself, sometimes my brother Paul, Jeff or Trent gathered around the table with our tiles and boards. Doug would walk around the table making little sounds when we made a lousy move or helping us make a brilliant move. My family plays Rummikub and I always think of Barbara and Doug.

When Steve and I were about to get married, I panicked a little bit. We were literally in the elevator heading up to the sealing room in the Salt Lake Temple and I told Doug I was going to say 'No!' He simply said 'Chari, when I look at you, you will say Yes! Nothing else. You love this man. You have prayed about this and this is not the time to back out-that was yesterday! Say Yes!'
I said yes and here we are 19 years later!

Doug was the President of Beneficial Life Insurance. He had 3 different offices in the BL Tower as I recall. Julie and I would go meet him for lunch and whenever we did, he always made sure he was in the office on the highest floor...the one that was used for VIP's. It was always so much fun to be able to go up there and be treated so importantly.

Doug could also type 120 words per minute. That is sooo fast. I type 90 WPM and I've tried to reach his speed.

I feel so grateful to have had his influence in my life!

News articles and His obituary follows...

Funeral Services recall Douglas H. Smith

Elder Douglas H. Smith passes away

His Greatest Success

Douglas Hill Smith
May 11, 1921 ~ January 29, 2009
Douglas Hill Smith, loving husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather, devoted church leader, noted business executive and wonderful friend passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by his family, January 29, 2009 of causes incident to age.

Douglas was born in Salt Lake City, Utah on May 11, 1921 to Virgil Howarth Smith and Winifred Pearl Hill Smith. He graduated from South High School in 1938 and from the University of Utah in 1942, where he was affiliated with the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. He married Barbara Jean Bradshaw on June 16, 1941 in the Salt Lake Temple, with President David O. McKay officiating. Douglas and Barbara have seven children; Sandra J. Smith; Lillian S. Alldredge (Claron); Barton D. Smith (Louise); Lowell V. Smith (Lynne); Blaine K. Smith (Rebecca); Catherine S. Faulkner (Carl); and B. Sherilynn Alba (Hector). He is survived by his wife, children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and his brother Howard H. Smith (JoeAnn), brother-in-law Thomas Rodney Bradshaw (Joan), and sister-in-law Helen Bradshaw. He was preceded in death by his granddaughter Ashley Ann Faulkner, his parents, and his brother Virgil H. Smith. Douglas and Barbara have 39 grandchildren and 78 great grandchildren. Douglas took great joy in his posterity. His exemplary dedication and generosity to every family member was an outstanding example of his role as a loving patriarch.

Douglas was president of Beneficial Life Insurance Company, Utah Home Fire Insurance Company, and Southern Reinsurance Exchange. He was Chairman of the Board of Directors of L.D.S. Hospital (10 years) and Chairman of the Utility Shareholders Committee. He served as a member of the Board of Directors of Zions First National Bank, Hotel Utah, Freedom Foundation - Valley Forge, Salt Lake City and County Board of Health, Murdock Travel, Western American Life Insurance Company, Continental Western Life Insurance Company, and Pacific Heritage Life Insurance Company. He was vice chairman and executive vice president of Deseret Management Corporation. He also served as the vice president of the Boys Scouts of America, Great Salt Lake Council and American Cancer Society.

Douglas was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, had a firm conviction of its teachings and an unshakable testimony of Jesus Christ. He served in many positions in the Church, including service as Elders Quorum counselor and president, High Priest Group Leader, Bishopric Counselor (Edgehill Ward), Bishop (South Edgehill Ward), Counselor and Stake President (Hillside Stake), Regional Representative, a member of the First and Second Quorums of Seventy, Area President of the Asia Area, and Temple Sealer. He demonstrated an absolute commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and was a leader in building the Kingdom of God. He had a particular love for the people of the Far East.

Friends may visit Larkin Mortuary,260 East South Temple St.,Salt Lake City, Utah on Tuesday, February 3, 2009 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Funeral services will be held Wednesday, February 4, 2009 at 12 noon at the Ensign Second Ward, 135 North “A” Street, Salt Lake City, Utah, where a viewing will be held one hour before the service. Interment will be in the Salt Lake Cemetery

I've Been Tagged with lots of guilt attached :)

2009-02-18T11:01:00.000-08:00

Okay, so my buddy Kristin has thrown the gauntlet at me and let me know that not only did she tag me, but she knew I wouldn't accept the tag. Kristin has ALWAYS known how to get me to respond quickly...it's the competiveness swirling through my soul. :) So, whoever I tag, it's Kristin's fault!

Here goes:

Here are the rules:
Post rules on your blog
Answer the six '8' items
Let each person know by leaving them a comment

8 favorite TV shows:

Burn Notice!!!!!!!!!! It's the BEST! USA Thursday nights
Life
Monk
Top Chef
30 Rock
Office
Dragons Den
Chuck

8 things I did yesterday:

Set up the incubator for chicken hatching
Assembled 20 bookmarks for a youth event tonight
Played a game of ZUMA
Babysat 7 extra kids for several hours
scrubbed black paint out of my NEW carpet-it came out!
Made at least 15 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
taught piano lessons
Chatted with Eddie and Mindee till midnight

8 things I'm looking forward to:

Friday to come and go without Steve being laid off (Boeing is laying off 10,000 workers on Friday-EEK!)
My kitchen renovation completed
My walls painted (they are in that weird in between stage of patches, old color, primer etc)
Sam reading on his own
Sarah potty trained
Recording my girls singing this weekend
My hubby coming home from work
Burn Notice on Thursday night :)

8 favorite restaurants:

Cheesecake Factory
China Garden
Subway
Q'doba
Anything Laura A. puts her culinary skills to (you know who I'm talking about)
The Keg
I can't think of any more so 6 will have to do.

8 Things on my wish list

I was 100 lbs. lighter
My ankle and foot wouldn't cause me pain every day
I had a closer relationship with my brothers
I could go away with Steve for a few days
I met Rob Thomas (I love him) (Matchbox Twenty for those who don't know)
I had unlimited funds for purchasing learning supplies
We had a complete two year supply
All of my children were strong readers, loved math and sought out learning at every turn...Ahhh! a mother can dream.

8 people I tag (don't hate me):

Sarah O.
Heather
Kim M.
Rebecca L.
Rebecca P.
Whitney B.
Amanda H.
Mari L.

Chemistry Revisited

2009-01-28T20:32:00.000-08:00

I surprise most people who know me when they find out that my undergraduate major was biochemistry. I would say degree but that would be an overstatement of just 3 more classes. Most people assume that I majored in some sort of music category. Not true! I love the sciences. I always wanted to be a doctor. I worked in the medical field for many years and loved the challenge of the schooling associated with medicine. I obviously ended up choosing a different path in my life. But I still love the sciences!

Today, I was perusing this chemistry course and signed up for a free trial. I wanted to see what I remembered and I wanted to stretch my mind in that scientific/math stretching kind of way. It has been a fun, fun day. I couldn't believe how much I had forgotten but within the hour most of it had come back to me and I was zooming through problem after problem. Maybe I need to go finish up those last 3 classes? It's a thought!

The Game

2009-01-14T10:02:00.000-08:00

While perusing one of my favorite blogs, I read about this Colorku game. It's a sudoku game that instead of using numbers, you use colors. I thought it looked like a lot of fun but my $ was all gone. So, my girls and I sat down one day and made our own version. It cost us less than $2 and has been a huge hit. I used clear flat marbles, a circle punch and cardstock. We glued the circles on the bottom of the marbles. They dried in just a few minutes. I then went online and generated sudoku puzzles in very easy, easy and medium. I made up my own sudoku grid and instead of putting in numbers put in a color. I printed out the puzzles-1 per page and placed them in page protectors in a binder. I have 30 puzzles that I made if anyone wants a copy. We have made 3 game boards for us. I had a box that a scrapbook came in. It had a natural grid as you can see. I simply drew the lines with a sharpie.

We sometimes all work on different puzzles or race each other using one puzzle. It's been so much fun. It seems like someone is playing the game at all times. I'm making a magnetic version as well (placing magnets on the back of the marbles and then making a grid on a sheet of metal-it will be good for traveling, bedtime etc.)

Thanks for great ideas!

Bedtime Stories

2009-01-13T19:24:00.000-08:00

My family is on a very late night schedule. Kylie is the only one that puts herself to bed early on in the evening. She has to get up very early-the rest of the children don't. There isn't enough of me to go around in the evenings and normally it makes for a very loud, hard to calm evening. That is until this past week.

A few months ago I picked up some mp3 players for $5.00 a piece. I bought 4 of them. This week I discovered that my local library system has a Digital Media Center. I can check out audio books and music and download them right to my computer for three weeks at a time. The kids and I went through the list of available books and they all chose books they felt they would like to hear. Each night, I load 1-2 hours worth of reading onto each of their mp3 players. They head to bed at 9:00, listen till done, go to sleep and can't wait for the next evenings chapters. Even the two year old has her own player. She loves it.
With all of these books, we are still in the middle of reading three different chapter books during the day.
This weeks listenings: Land of Elyon Book 1, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Keeper of the Grail bk 1, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Dr. Seuss Collection, The Diamond of Darkhold bk 4 Ember Series and Anne of Green Gables.

I'm enjoying the quieter evenings, Kylie is loving the quieter atmosphere and I'm getting a little more time with hubby. It's been a good, good thing!

For Kylie

2009-01-13T15:16:00.000-08:00

My daughter Kylie would like me to post that she is amazing! Kylie you are amazing! There, I've now posted about you at least 4 times! Love you...

Is it really January?

2009-01-13T13:05:00.000-08:00

Okay Okay! I'm now getting private emails from friends to please update my life...so I'm going to get back on the blogging bandwagon as of NOW! My laptop is still dead and I realize I'm awfully dependant on it for blogging.

My first updates are about learning. A couple of months ago 'Lapaz Home Learning' had some posts that really inspired me. I copied her idea for idea for a few days and have since branched out on my own. Three days a week I put out trays filled with different activities. They explore concepts in art, math, science and literature. I let the kids decide if they would like to explore the trays. They seem to always want to. Sometimes the same tray is out for several days because the kids keep coming back to it or have asked it to stay out so they can get to it. It's been really fun for me to think of ways to help their natural curiosity.

Again, I stole several of these ideas directly from Lapaz Home Learning-you can find her under my learning links.

For this tray I printed out different photos and labels of clouds. On the back side were facts about that type of cloud. I placed cardstock squares, cottonballs, glue and a pen. This was the result...

On the backside of these are the type of cloud plus one or two facts. The kids have been naming clouds nonstop since this activity.

Another tray:

I put out a couple of different Dr. Seuss books. We read them aloud-each taking turns. Then the kids made their own characters for a Dr. Seuss book. This was a really fun day and everyone got involved. Some of the kids even made up their own 'scenes' for their new characters to act out. The result:

The building tray...
has lots of architectural stuff on it. Clays, tools, sugar cubes, glue, books-all to inspire dimensional thinking. A result: This tray we spent days playing with. It started out with dimensional wood shapes-spheres, cubes, pyramids etc. toothpicks, marshmallows and dots. Dots were much more stable than marshmallows.

This hexagon was so stable we actually could roll it across the table.

This was our DOTS/MARSHMALLOW CARNIVAL. We had a very stable bridge, buildings, ferris wheels etc. So much fun!

Some more trays:

This is Sams artwork using the watercolor crayons.

Bingo-this is to help Sam with his larger numbers. It's been a great way to practice those numbers without him knowing it.

We had so much fun building the dimensional shapes that we started a study on crystals. This is the beginning of a Ruby Geode.

This was another art day focusing on butterflies.

Math with tangrams and geoboards. I made a set of tangrams for each of the kids out of foam. They constantly play with this.

Okay! It feels good to post again. My purpose in posting is to keep a record of our family happenings. I just needed to remind myself of that. See y'all tomorrow. You're going to LOVE the game I made. We are addicted to it. See ya tomorrow.

Wow! Time flies by...

2008-11-03T17:23:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's been well over a month since I've posted. A few things have been going on. Mainly, my laptop crashed hard! Since I store all of my photos, music etc. on this machine it's been painful to have it be gone. I also complete all of my blogging from that poor sick baby. It is in ICU at a friends house. He is trying to salvage the hard drive and possibly the computer. It doesn't look good :)

I've gone through a really funky depression this past month. That is another reason that I haven't blogged...it's just sometimes too hard. Things are getting better though. My doc calls it 'situational depression' associated with all of the surgeries and pain from the past 1 1/2 years. I agree.

Some updates from the past month:

My best friend from Jr High through college through missions through marriages found me. We had lost touch about 9 years ago and I've missed her terribly. She found me though and I'm so glad she did. Thanks Sue! I love having you back!

I went shopping for some pants that Clinton, Stacey and Tim Gunn would approve of and I found them :) Yea!!!!!! It was hard work and I had to try on probably 50 pair. Man oh man! They had better last a long, long time.

(I realize it's a sad life when I post about pants shopping but it really was exciting)

The kitchen remodel is progressing-slowly but assuredly. Is that correct english? Hmmm!

Hubby's car DIED! We are now sharing one car and I'm left without wheels most days. Darn!

Hubby got a new position within his company. It's a great move and he starts this coming
Friday in the new department. Go honey!

I cleaned the downstairs! Enough said!

My sister Rachel came for a weekend visit. It doesn't get better than that! She is so much fun. So kind, generous and loving to all of us. We miss her.

Homeschooling is plugging along at a great pace. Sam finished his lapbook on 'My Father's Dragon'. It was a great experience and a fun way to read a book. Paige and Lilly continue to work on their Continents Lapbook. They are still in Asia and finding lots to learn about. We've spent some time on Xian's Warriors and on the Yangtze River. Interesting stuff.

Sam is loving Age of Empires III. He is becoming quite self sufficient and skilled at the game. Lilly has been beading up a storm and sent some bracelets and necklaces to my sisters hair salon and they are selling really well. Paige is playing the piano and cooking like she owns a restaurant. She's made donuts, pizza, bagels, scones to just name a few. She is really enjoying math and challenging herself right now. Sarah is growing and funny, funny, funny! Kylie is excelling as always over at the Middle School.

Halloween has come and gone...Kids were a GoGo Girl, Hannah Montana, Witch, Spy in Sunday clothes, and a miniature Hulk. So much fun.

We went and saw High School Musical III in the theater. We LOVED it! We had the theater to ourselves so Sam was dancing in the aisles, girls were cheering and Sarah was running up and down the stairs. Loved, loved, loved it!

Also read 'City of Embers' Loved the book and I highly recommend it. We went and saw the movie and it wasn't nearly as good as the book. So, skip the movie and read the book!

Favorite line from the month; Sam, while trick or treating ran ahead of the crew and shouted out "Follow me boys and I'll lead you to paradise!" Lead away Sam! Lead away!

Okay, I realize that my use of exclamation points is a little over done for this posting. But, it's my blog so there!!!!!

Last comment: I've become addicted to cjanerun.blogspot.com. Very inspiring and lovely. Check it out.

An Amazing Learning Resource

2008-09-22T21:53:00.000-07:00

I found a great resource tonight for education. It's AMAZING!!! Check it out HERE-enjoy!

As a side note, Sam is having a great time reading 'My Fathers Dragon' and working on the lapbook. He has been watching alot of military movies and playing soldier in the cul-de-sac. He's quite serious about it all.

Paige and Lilly have been working on a Geography unit and seem to be enjoying it. They have assembled a Continents Lapbook and it looks great. They are working on Asia right now. Lilly is fascinated with Xian's Warriors. So we are taking some time to research, study and make a book about these famous TerraCotta Warriors.

Lilly is also sewing a skirt. It is a brown knit with lots of gathers. She is doing really well on the gathering part. She should finish it tomorrow.

Sarah is obsessed with counting. It's quite enjoyable to see develop.

Our home is much calmer since dropping dance. It was alot of running to and fro, negotiating schedules, dinner, family time, church activities, homework for Kylie etc. Kylie is definitely more peaceful having free time in the evenings. There is something to be said for being too over scheduled.

A Little Bit of my Blogging Self

2008-09-14T20:49:00.001-07:00

Since entering the blogging world several months ago, I've only had 4 blogs on my blog list to share with y'all. Well, I've decided to share all of the blogs I read.

I expressed to my sister the other night that one of the reasons I love blogging is because I feel connected to others without any measure of conflict or rejection. They are a safe place for me. I can have friends and not feel alone in the world. I love it when my blog feeder let's me know that these sites have posted. It's as good as receiving a phone call from a friend.

So, without further adieu;

I have a group of blogs I go to for homeschooling support, ideas, experience and just fun. I've found one recently that has inspired us to start lapbooking.

I have a group of friends and family who by following keep me connected.

I have several blogs devoted to food storage, recipes and great photography.

I also have a couple of blogs that I read because they are so inspirational to me.

I have one blog that specifically keeps me tied to Israel in a very round about way.

Another blog has such differing ideas, views and beliefs from me but they are expressed in a completely non-threatening way that it helps me to see a different point of view. Also, it's really funny. Sometimes you just need a good laugh!

A Blast from the Past

2008-09-08T18:25:00.000-07:00

In 1989, (this is soooo going to age me) I served a volunter mission for my church 'The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints'. I was called to the Canada Winnipeg Mission. At the time, it was the largest land size mission in the world. We covered Saskatchewan, Manitoba and half of Ontario (over past Thunder Bay to Marathon). We also covered the Northwest Territories (the farthest North anyone ever served was Churchill) It's the Northwest Territories that gave us the claim to the largest land size mission in the world for our church. (Miranda, I added all of that extra detail for you :) being that you live in Canada and may know the towns I speak of).

Anyways, I made a lot of friends while there. In fact, I met my husband there and we've been married over 18 years but that is a fascinating, unbelievable story that if you are lucky I will share one day with you. Just not today.

So, back to my story...hmmm...where was I?

Oh yeah, friends...there were some Elders (19-21 yr. old young men) who I constantly served around; Flake, Jensen, Roland and Pack to just name a few. This is a story about Pack that happened after my mission was over.

It's early February, I've been home for two months. A gang of us has gathered down in Provo, Utah at BYU for a little get together. I'm leaving the next day to meet up with Elder Bennett from the mission in Marietta, Ga. I'm sooooo nervous. I know that things may move quickly between us and I'm not quite prepared. You see, I'd managed to get to this age without ever having kissed a boy on my terms (it's a short story that will never be told-it happened when I was 15 and scarred me till adulthood). Somehow in this group that evening it came out that I was not prepared to kiss a boy- and I'd better be prepared because my future with Elder Bennett depended on it.

Pack being the ever so helpful genuine friend that he was said "that will not do! I'll teach you how to kiss." (liberty taken with exact wording here -I think that I actually asked Pack to help me with this difficult situation not the other way around)

Now, just For Your Information, Pack is the most non-threatening individual I've ever met. He has the ability to extinguish any difficult situation just by being so laid back and easy going. It was amazing to watch what would happen when he would enter a room. Everyone would just chill (for all you Twilighters, he's a real life Jasper). So...back to the "I'll teach you..."

I thought to myself "If anyone can do this, (get me over my horror and fear and tendency to punch anyone who trys to kiss me) Pack can. I trust him. I'm just Sister J. to him and he won't hurt me". So, I agreed and we stepped into a back bedroom. (That sounds so incredibly scandalous-what good mormon girl goes into a back bedroom with a boy? Hmm?!)

So...Packs instructions are "Close your eyes, part your lips just a little bit and relax."

So, I close my eyes and in trying to part my lips a little bit begin giggling. I can giggle I tell you. Sometimes it's quite hard for me to stop giggling.

Pack is saying "This is not helping. You cannot giggle. He won't know what to do with that. Don't giggle."

So, we try again. I giggle again. Lecture again. Try again. Giggle again. Lecture again. Do you see the pattern? I'm pretty sure that went on for a good 20 minutes.

Finally, Pack said "Chari, you're safe. Nothing bad is going to happen. Stop giggling".

So I stopped giggling. I closed my eyes, parted my lips just a little bit and focused on not giggling. Pack kissed me. It was very sweet and not scary and nothing bad happened to me. In fact it was lovely.

Pack said "That was pretty good. Way to go on not giggling. This time relax". I focused intently on all of those instructions. The second kiss was easier. On the third kiss, it was my turn to initiate. After another giggling fit I took a deep breath, tried to not cry, leaned in, closed my eyes and gave a simple, slightly lingering kiss to Pack.

I can't begin to tell you how I felt. I did it! I overcame a horror from my earlier years and was blessed to have a dear friend who sincerely helped me. I was all of a sudden OK! Just like that. I was OK!

Pack said that I was ready and I would be fine in Georgia. I had a sweet sensation the rest of the evening. Kissing was lovely.

There are so many benefits to having friends I tell ya!

A couple days later in Georgia, I saw the signs of a first kiss coming. So, I closed my eyes, parted my lips just a bit, relaxed and heard Brett Pack yelling in my brain 'Do not Giggle'. So, I did not giggle. It must have gone well because we were married 7 weeks later.

When I think about it? Brett Pack can take full responsibility for the success of this marriage.
(I occassionally hear him saying 'don't giggle') Thanks Brett!

friends

2008-09-07T15:13:00.001-07:00

Last Sunday he fell out of a two story window. It was his bedroom window. It was only cracked a bit. His mom found him on the concrete ouside with the screen under him. He is 2. He has been in the trauma center for the past week in the ICU. He was just transferred to Children's Hospital for longterm inpatient rehabilitation. He isn't talking yet. His walking isn't right yet. It could have been so much worse. His mom (my dear friend) seems to be very calm and very hopeful and has quickly adapted to her new life. Nights spent at the hospital, still parenting an older child at home, little bits of progress becoming the lifeline to normalcy.

Last week my dear friends sat in court observing the choosing of the jury. The jury that would decide the financial future and fate of their severely disabled daughter. A daughter that due to a birth gone very wrong will never hear, sit, walk, eat, speak. The expenses are in the millions. The injuries are directly related to very bad decisions made by professionals. They are holding their breath. The trial starts on Monday.

My heart is breaking for NieNie and I don't even know her or her family but she makes me want to be a better person. If you don't know her story, go here.

My stuff seems so pathetic in comparison!

A look back at the week

2008-09-07T14:38:00.000-07:00

Kylie had a great first week at school. The kids had a great first week at home. I don't like to define homeschooling by weeks. The way we live, it's continual learning that is not defined by the beginning and end of a school year.

However, the learning recap is: Paige has been working on her multiplication facts. She loves the new flashcards I purchased earlier. She's been baking and cooking alot. If we can just work on cleaning up the messes afterwards.

Lilly has been designing and beading up a storm. You wouldn't believe her work. It's better than most adults beading work. Her designs are brilliant. She balances color, texture and depth so well. I'll take some photos and post them.

The girls have been putting together the elements for a study on the continents. They've been letting me know what types of thing they are curious about and I've been finding info for them. They are going to make a lapbook out of all of their facts.

Sam has been continuing his lapbook and reading of 'My Fathers Dragon'. He is very pleased with his lapbook and shows it to everyone who comes over. Sam has also been spending time throwing the gigantic dice and adding up the dots. I showed him how to graph his results and he thought that was cool and then actually made a graph. It's been sunny so lots of playing outside has happened. Picking vegetables from our garden, riding bikes, lots of walks.

It was a good week.

Paige and Lilly had an exciting adventure this week. All three girls are housesitting for a friend. Paige and Lilly take the morning shift of feeding animals, watering plants etc. On Thursday, Paige and Lilly went alone for the first time. Once they open the door they have 60 seconds to deactivate the house alarm. Well, a wrong button was pressed and the very loud alarm went off. Lilly panicked and ran to her bike and started crying and told Paige to come now. Paige stayed calm. She knew the police would be calling, which they did very quickly. Paige told them that they were housesitting and accidentally set off the alarm. They should call the owners on their cell phones and they would confirm the story but could they please shut off the alarm. A few minutes later a police officer showed up at the house. Lilly by this time had gone back inside. The police officer asked to see the house key-even tried it out to make sure it worked. He then went through the entire house with the girls asking all them sorts of questions. Where are the pets? What do you feed them? I assume he was making sure they were really suppose to be there. Then the officer left.

I'm so proud of Paige for staying so calm. For not panicking or crying in the face of strangers or police officers. For knowing what to do. We have since practiced with her unlocking the door, turning off the alarm, turning on the alarm, locking the door several times so hopefully the police won't arrive. and Lilly? she just cracks me up...I can picture her panicking and crying and wanting to escape on her bike. Now that everyone is safe, the thought makes me giggle.

My foot is here. It is healing but I'm still suppose to be down. Down! Down! Down! Good grief! and that is all I will say on that subject :)

On another note, I had cable hooked up! I decided on DirectTV. It was installed on Saturday. I was alone in the house and couldn't go downstairs with the tech guy. We have three T.V.s in the house. Cable was being installed on two of them. The one in the master bedroom and the one in the family room. The third T.V. is a tiny portable 12" tv that I use in my music/craft room. The tech actually hooked up the tiny 12" tv in my craft room instead of the family room TV. For real! Even though I told him the family room with the large TV. He went into a bedroom and hooked up a tiny TV. I'm anxious to see how DirectTV is going to resolve this.

Our first day of the new school year

2008-09-03T13:36:00.000-07:00

This morning at 7:20 a.m. Kylie headed off to 7th grade. We are thrilled that she has her favorite math teacher again this year. She also has 3 of her classes with her best friend Sabrina. I'm happy for her. I hope to get a great report when she returns back home.

At home we began our year by reading. We began 'My Fathers Dragon' for Sam.

Lilly has been beading this morning and made 3 beautiful bracelets. Today was the first day that she actually did the crimping and added the toggles all by herself.

Paige spent time writing in her journal. She is confused by having the freedom to being able to decide how to use her time. She keeps waiting for me to tell her what to do. I'm instead asking her questions and hoping her answers will lead her to learning and activities. I can tell it will take some time before she trusts herself to just 'do'.

Sam choose a letter of the day: 'A'. He made a little booklet where he wrote out several words that begin with A or have A in the middle. He also wrote out two sentences for me. I have these really cool large foam dice. Sam pulled them out and began throwing them and then adding up all of the dots. He was trying to beat his previous 'score'. I didn't even suggest that and it turned into a great math game.

The last couple of hours all of the kids have been at the kitchen table painting with Tempera Paints. Sarah did 4 or 5 paintings with a brush before she realized she could use her hands-aagh! Sam also painted several things-a dead tree with one apple, a red power ranger, a green frog...Lilly has painted several abstracts and an amazing underwater scene. She sprinkled salt on top of the wet paint and it caused these really cool bubbles. She also added air bubbles with white crayon on top of the paint. So cool! Paige is still working on one landscape scene. She has been working hard on mixing colors to get the right sky color.

Paige and I did some research on lapbooking and I found a great site HERE. We decided that since the kids loved working with paper and glue and loved making books, we would choose a subject and make a lapbook. We are actually really excited. I'll print out what is offered and have it if they choose to use it. I think they will because they really like this type of thing.

I'm finding it hard to not dictate how or what we should do. I think that unless I get a fight from them, I'll offer suggestions and ask for certain things to be done? Hmmm...here we go!

Our Plan

2008-08-31T19:59:00.000-07:00

The kids and I have been discussing what they want to learn this next year. The lists are varied and sound interesting.

Sam: I want mom to read aloud to me lots! I want to learn about knights, castles, armor, weapons, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War and I want to play. I also want to do lots and lots of science.

Lilly: I want to sew lots. I want to make skirts and pants for me and clothes for my dolls. I will write in my journal everyday to practice spelling, handwriting and creative writing. I want to know more about the stars. I want to learn to cook different things. I want to have art everyday. I want mom to read aloud to me and I want to play games like Yahtzee and Scattergories.

Paige: I want to do everything! I want to cook, sew, write poetry, write a play, sing, dance, play piano, get better at my times tables and have fun.

I know with those three lists I can incorporate all sorts of subjects. I'm looking forward to helping them achieve their goals. I've done my main 'school' shopping with their lists in mind and it was really fun.

Everything has always been laid out for me in the past due to the structure and curriculum I used at home but this year I get to be creative in the presentation and learning of subjects. I'm really looking forward to it. It's making me use my mind :)

I'm home

2008-08-31T12:18:00.000-07:00

I'm still in shock that I had to have surgery on Friday. But I did and here is the report.

Surgery was scheduled for 2:30 pm. I couldn't have anything to eat or drink after midnight the night before. It made for a tough day. I couldn't take any pain reliever etc. We arrived at the hospital at 12:45. I was taken immediately back to get changed for surgery-I hate that part! I had to have blood drawn and the first girl missed twice. Darn! A second girl came while 'Evan' my anesthesiologist was chatting with me. He said he didn't need any blood work and told the girl to go away. I was glad. I don't think Evan has the greatest bedside manners but he made me laugh quite a bit.

The IV went in fairly easily and then I was wheeled into the O.R. I've never actually been aware while going into an O.R. I didn't like it. It's really cold, very bright and sterile and everyone is masked. I scooted onto the O.R. table and was laughing out of nervousness until Evan finally sedated me. He had me hold a mask over my mouth but I kept asking questions and moving the mask so he finally held it on tight till I was out.

I woke up while just leaving the O.R. and it was miserable. I think having surgery later in the day makes the anesthesia harder. Having had nothing to eat or drink for so long doesn't give your body anything to help cushion the effect of all of the drugs. It was tough.

I've heard most reports via Steve. Dr. N. said that surgery was very difficult. It took him an hour to find the needle and I had a significant infection in my foot from the needle. Dr. N said that he was ready to stop the surgery and keep me overnight and go back into surgery the next day with the aid of a CT scan. However, I had mentioned to him that my daughters were fasting for him (going without food or water for an extended length of time-the purpose being that the extra sacrifice will bring forth blessings from Heaven) that Dr. N would find the needle. When Dr. N thought of the girls he knew that he couldn't stop and so he paused, thought, repositioned the fluoroscope and found the needle.

My incision is over an inch in length and deep so it looks like I'll be down for the 6 weeks but we won't know for sure until Tuesday at my postop.

I have to say that I'm relieved at how little pain I feel. If I keep still then my foot doesn't bother me at all. If I have to get up then I'm in quite a bit of pain. So...I stay down!

You Won't Believe This!

2008-08-28T12:29:00.001-07:00

So...last night I was walking through the dining room on my clean, yummy carpets-barefoot of course. I am never, ever barefoot-it freaks me out a little bit. But last night, I was enjoying my clean carpets. I felt a really sharp scrape on the bottom of my foot, took a couple of steps and realized that something was wrong. I looked down and in that clean, yummy carpet I found this:
a broken needle with white thread.

I quickly realized that the other half of the needle was in my foot.

I tried getting it out but this was no splinter. I slept and then early this morning went into my ankle surgeon. He took x-rays and there was the other half of the needle-deeply imbedded in my foot.

Here's the You Won't Believe This! part; Are you ready? Are you sitting down yet? Okay! I warned you.

I HAVE TO HAVE SURGERY TOMORROW ON MY LEFT FOOT TO REMOVE A LOST NEEDLE!

(opposite foot of the ankle surgery fame)

Wait, it gets better-based on how large the incision turns out to be I will be off of my foot for a minimum of two weeks but most likely 6 weeks. Again with 6 weeks!

I just started laughing and then I needed to throw up!

So...tomorrow is surgery...for a needle...that is lost in my foot...that will put me down for a few weeks...WAIT!!!!! I've already done this!

Wish me luck folks because this is getting old :) (I'll make sure to take pictures just so I can post the EWWWW! factor of this exciting mess.)

Remembering...

2008-08-25T18:43:00.000-07:00

About 13 years ago I made a phone call that literally changed my life. We had just lost our 4th pregnancy and this last one was quite late in the game. The doctors had stated there was nothing they could do. I was beyond heartbroken and sad. I was empty. I had heard of a doctor who literally performed miracles due to his knowledge, innate abilities and kindness. I decided to call this miracle worker 'just in case' the other MD's were wrong.

It was a Friday morning. I dialed the number I had been given. I was scared and nervous. A voice answered. Her name was Anne. She was an angel-truly! The conversation went like this:

"Good Morning! This is Anne."

"Hi, I don't know if you can help me but..."

"Tell me what made you call."

"I just lost my 4th pregnancy and..."

"Oh Honey! I'm so sorry! That should never have happened. Tell me all about it."

"(me, bawling on the phone) I agree! That should never have happened!"

After giving her a brief history, she put me on hold. A few moments later, Dr. Kort himself got on the line and spoke with me extensively. Within a week I had met with a perinatologist and then was sitting in Dr. Kort's office. He had a plan! His plan was specific, arduous, at times painful, quite expensive and more than a miracle. Within a year of that phone call I was holding our first baby-Kylie Mckay. The first of 5 babies to come.

Through it all there was Anne! Constantly reassuring me that this is where hope was. I was in the care of gifted hands. Anne calling me on scary days, painful days, frightening days, happy days. Always Anne.

I haven't spoken with Anne in over 9 years-till today.

I have a friend! I called Anne on her behalf... (tick tock tick)

My friend has an appointment now in Atlanta with Dr. Kort. She says Anne is amazing. She is hopeful and excited. She is comforted by Anne. It reminds me of how I felt so many years ago. To be in the hands of a miracle worker and tenderly cared for by an angel. Anne!

A Week in Review; Aug 17th-24th

2008-08-24T17:06:00.000-07:00

It's been a very busy and eventful week. First off-Sam lost his first tooth. It came out and his tooth didn't bleed at all. He was so excited. This happened on Monday Aug 18th. The tooth fairy visited him that night and left his $1.50.

The next day, Kylie lost a molar tooth. Exciting stuff around here.

Sarah and her friend Becca found Paige's play makeup...this is the result.

I had my carpets cleaned on Wednesday...what an amazing difference that makes!

This past April, the girls auditioned to sing for the Everett AquaSox. It is the Seattle Mariners AAA ballclub here. They were chosen and sang 'God Bless America' this past Friday. They were at the 3rd baseline and sang right before the fireworks show. They did a great job. The only problem is that the batteries on the camera inexplicably died 41 seconds into the performance. I swear I checked and rechecked that camera to make sure there was plenty of memory, batteries etc. Darn that Energizer Bunny!

We are going to try to piece together something from that night, but for now here are some photos.

Afterwards since we were on the ball field the kids helped clean up balls from a game and partcipated in a Hula Hoop contest...Paige tied with another girl. I think they could have been there all night.
While at the ballgame, Sam was playing catch with his dad and a ball bounced up and smacked him on the lip-OUCH! This is what it looked like the next day.

We had lots of friends over to play this week. In fact Thursday and Friday we had 9 kids in and out of the pool all day. It was busy and wet. I've been working on my craft/music room and it's looking great! I love the wall color so much that I want to put it upstairs too! We installed the baseboards and started moving stuff back in. It's been an exciting, eventful and busy, busy week!

A Midnight Swim-sort of

2008-08-17T00:34:00.000-07:00

It has been really, really hot here in Seattle. Several days worth of 90 +degrees. I know that is laughable to many of you but we really aren't use to anything over the mid 70's. I kid you not. So, to help the kids cool off before heading to very hot beds, we've been encouraging them to jump in the pool...

Synchronzed Swimmers!

Even the baby got in the pool!

I love all of the different activities happening; Sam jumping, Lilly diving, Page and Sarah swimming!

Now Paige is jumping and Lilly has Sarah!

Between taking photos of the kids, I took some pictures of my pot garden that resides on my deck... Enjoy!

This is my herb and lettuce garden-basil, rosemary, oregano, thyme, two different lettuces.

Carrots and a very sad strawberry plant

Cherry tomatoes. They are trying awfully hard to become...it just hasn't happened yet :)

This is a picture of Sarah's toe. She insisted that I take a picture of it that night. Anything to make that fantastic child happy.

Cleaning Up and Out

2008-08-10T13:17:00.000-07:00

Well, we've been busy cleaning. Not typical house cleaning-although that has been happening as well. I mean, the empty out the garage, sort, toss, give, reorganize type of cleaning.

First the GARAGE: people actually thought we were having a yard sale there was so much stuff we pulled out. Most of the stuff I hadn't seen since we moved in.
The photo shown is of the garage. All of this came out of it. It was a long day but the garage did become useable again and clean.

Second: the downstairs-wow! what a job. See here for a reminder. It is clean, organized and I sorted tons of stuff to the give away/throw away piles.

Coming in at THIRD, FOURTH AND FIFTH? all of the kids bedrooms-this was a 3 day process-dejunking happening everywhere! The kids are very happy with the results.

SIXTH you ask? Why it's the laundry room/bathroom-Egads! I had no idea the things I would find lurking in the dark recesses of this room...but no worries! It looks beautiful now.

I tell you, I am not done yet! Coming in at number SEVEN...it is the fort-this is one of my favorite places on this property. It's the area underneath the upper deck of the house. Its closed in and pretty cool-When we moved in, all sorts of stuff got dumped here due to lack of knowing where to put it. I finally got around to going through it all. It's now a great play place for the kids with a giant chalkboard, a dollhouse, basketball hoop etc. , a storage place for all sports equipment and even has a table to use for games, eating etc. while enjoying shade in the outdoors. I love it! (the pile at you see at the end is stuff from my craft room-soon to be gone from here)

What? You say I must be done? No! no! I'm not done! Number EIGHT is the RV parking space-we don't have an RV. This was loaded up as the interim junkyard. One big trip to the dump and it's like magic! Poof! everything is gone. (okay the Poof! hasn't happened yet, but the space is now organized and ready to dissappear at a moments notice )

Please put on a sing songy voice while reading; Number NINE!!!! It's my Craft/Music room: this room was affected by a flood this past April. It's been in absolute CHAOS since then. The carpet is being installed this next week so hubby cleared out the entire room-no easy task I tell you. He's busy painting all of the trim white, installing new baseboards and painting the walls. I'm excited. I'll take a photo when it's done. Sometimes hard deadlines are a beautiful thing.

This photo actually makes it look pretty good. Trust me, it wasn't! the paint was all messed up and the carpet was EWWW! So, this is the post move out, pre paint photo.

TEN! TEN! TEN! Finally, my bookshelf in the kitchen. You know the one. The one that becomes the gathering place for everything like mail, books, paint brushes, missing mp3 players, coins, earrings, dvd's, tape (I'm naming a few of the items I found here). It is now a lovely bookshelf to look at.

Whew! We've been busy :) and does it ever feel good!!!

Update

2008-08-07T00:52:00.000-07:00

Well, tonight I made it down to Restoration Hardware to look at my perfect bedding. It is divine. I love everything about it. The price tag for everything is only $1100.00. I'm not making that up. So, I will live vicariously through the image of my perfect bedding and start looking for something that will do.

Do you ever get tired of having to settle for what will do? Sometimes I do. Do you? (and yes, I just used 'do' several times on purpose).

Good bye dream bedding. I hope you make sweet dreams for someone else...good bye!

good bye! goodbye!

I found it!

2008-08-06T13:52:00.000-07:00

I found my perfect bedding~truly inspiring. I can see how the walls should be painted, the actual bed frame that I want. Everything. The local store even has one King size left. Wish me luck in figuring out how to get it.

Awesome!

2008-08-03T23:04:00.000-07:00

Sarah is in Sam's room getting ready for bed. She has put on his blue Power Rangers t-shirt and his basketball shorts.

Me: You look so cute!

Sarah: I not cute!

Me: Well then, what are you?

Sarah:(she pauses and thinks) I awesome!

You are awesome little girl! and I love you!

(Photo is Sarah as spiderman-Sam's spiderman costume of course!)

A Mountain of Clothes

2008-07-31T21:51:00.001-07:00

Sarah has changed her clothes no less than 17 times today. She has taken off her shirt that many times-and not every time in the house. She has worn her older brother's shirts, her older sisters shirts and occasionally her own. She has removed her diaper at least the said amount of times-it's turned out to be an expensive day.

I've watched her pull her shirt off outside in front of all of the neighborhood kids at least 5 different times today. It takes her less than a minute to strip down to nothing!

Every time she takes her clothes off she has to get new ones...I'm left with my very own Clothing Mountain Range.

Sarah modeling Sam's shirt with her very own sweater acting as a hooded shawl.

Conversation

2008-07-30T13:10:00.000-07:00

Preface: Yesterday I went shopping at Lakeshore Learning, a divine place for learning. I purchased science kits-one on plants, another on the solar system. Two electricity kits-one basic, the other inventions. (which by the way, Sam has already powered a motor, a buzzer, made a switch from a paper clip and is having a great time). I bought other random things...spent way too much money but easily justified when it's spread out over 5 kids.

A conversation just took place between me and Paige:

Me: Wow! I spent alot of money yesterday on learning stuff. I could have bought a Wii.

Paige: Hmmm! Learning stuff? Wii? Learning stuff dings the bell!

Is that not the greatest statement ever?! Learning stuff dings the bell!

It's poetic, descriptive, memorable and is better than a thumbs up from Ebert and Roeper. I asked Paige where she heard that. She said "I'm pretty sure it came from me".

Learning stuff dings the bell! (I'm such a proud mama right now... she chose learning stuff over a wii- yea!!!! )

A bucket of swords

2008-07-25T14:37:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I went out yard sale-ing. I love to go to yard sales. I had a couple of items on my list-a mattress-which I found for $10. A bicycle-$10. Two kids wet suits-$10 and a bucket of swords-$5.

They were selling each sword for $1. I asked for the whole bucket and it was only $5. There were 23 swords in all. I brought them home to Sam and you would have thought he won the lottery.

Since the arrival of the bucket of swords, all of the neighborhood boys-8 in all, have been practicing for a war. We've been reading alot of Medivial Knights of the Round Table stuff, Civil War and Revolutionary War books. I believe that they are fighting a Knights of the Round Table war. They practice sword fighting every day. They choreograph actual fights. They have been making shields out of cardboard, bow and arrows out of sticks and string. They have decided that they need more archers than sword fighters because archers can stay alive longer due to being able to shoot and duck. The most surprising thing is they have requested 2 catapults.

They are very, very serious about this request. The specifications from them are: the catapults need to be 3 feet tall, moveable and be able to shoot large tinfoil canonballs across the cul-de-sac. I've been researching this online. There are lots of catapults that are little-not good enough for them they tell me. I've found one that is large made out of PVC pipe and I think I may adapt this one. From swords to catapults. I tell you, I didn't quite see this coming :)

Kylie's Quilt

2008-07-25T14:26:00.000-07:00

Kylie is getting ready to head off to Girls Camp for the first time next week. She will be gone all week. AGH! How did she get so old? I'll keep pondering that on my own time.

She and I decided that she needed a quilt to commemorate her first camp experience. Kylie went through my fabric stash and picked out some darling fabrics. She has cut the fabrics into squares, laid out a random pattern and is in the middle of sewing the top. Kylie still needs to finish the squares, add the border, sew the backing and batting to the top, flip it and quilt it. We have a lot to do before Tuesday.

It's a joy to see her work so hard to accomplish such a fun task.

I'll post a photo when it's completed!

Observing Nature

2008-07-25T13:39:00.001-07:00

I've always been fascinated with Charlotte Mason. I like narration, copywork and nature journals and I've used them all extensively. I've always thought about nature journals as just a way to get kids outside and see if they can observe and draw changes. I was so short sighted about this. I came across a post the other day that turned a light bulb on for me. The post is here. She quotes a famous scientist Richard Feynman and this is where the lightbulb happens...

"ALL of science is about trying to describe nature--whether it's biology or the known laws of physics. See, Nature is always out there, she's always doing what she does, and it's our job to try and trick her into revealing her secrets to us. It's a dance, because Nature doesn't always give up her secrets easily. You have to look closely at her; you have to experiment to really find out how she actually behaves!"

Science is about nature...it begins with nature journals and observing changes and describing through drawings and words what you see. Without knowing or understanding, by being in and around nature, you are in and around science! I love that!

Nature journals have a new meaning to me now.

A great speech...

2008-07-17T11:15:00.000-07:00

Trust the Children -one of my favorite blogs has a great post today about preserving creativity in children. He links here to a very thought provoking speech. I just finished listening and it is funny, creative, insightful, less than 20 min. and I highly recommend it!

Colored Pencils

2008-07-15T16:14:00.000-07:00

Sam is playing with colored pencils right now-7 packs of colored pencils. Of all things to play, he is playing army. There seems to be a fierce battle happening between the red/oranges and the blue/purple/blacks. He just announced that the red/oranges are outnumbered. I asked by how many...he answered by alot. He's counting-the numbers are going too high and he's losing track. Oh... now he is lining the pencils up man to man. I can see his brain spinning. Aha! They are outnumbered by 7. Hmmm? What is he thinking now? "Mom I need the yellows to help out the red/orange team. "Why?" I asked. "So they'll be even." How do you know they'll be even" Wheels in the head turning...comparing soldiers "because each color has 7 soldiers! Duh! Yeah!"
The red/orange/yellow team has officially decimated the blue/purple/black team. Casualties lay all over the floor while those who have won are marching down the table held by a 6 yr. old fist.

Interesting how much problem solving and learning occurred...estimating, counting, sorting, adding...interesting.

Letting go

2008-07-15T12:27:00.001-07:00

I'm finding it hard to let go of that which I'm comfortable with. Every year of homeschooling I have used K12. A great program that is rich in content, enjoyable to teach and learn and is laid out in such a way that nothing is missed (from a PS perspective). I take comfort in that. I'm familiar with that and I know what to expect with that.
I was talking to a mother today who is new to homeschooling and is using K12. It was so much fun to talk to her and share my 6 years of experience with the program. Help her let go of things that were taking over her day and how best to love the experience. When I got off of the phone with her I felt slightly panicked. I'm not using K12 next year. I need to let go...why am I letting go?
That's right! Because it doesn't suit two of my children and is destroying their love of learning. Because I have enough experience to provide them the environment which will enrich their lives. Because I'm willing to let go of something great for something more excellent. Because everything within me says it's time to let go. I can trust myself. I can trust my children.

This is really, really hard!

4th of July

2008-07-14T10:37:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm a week and a half late and a dollar short but I'm finally posting about the 4th. It was a great day!
It began with a ward (our local church congregation) breakfast over at a park. The kids brought their bikes and decorated them for a parade around the park. Men were busy cooking pancakes, eggs and bacon. There was fresh fruit and lots of OJ to go around. It's a great ward.
Then we did some work around the house. Hubby and I went shopping for a BBQ at our house later that evening. We invited our neighbors-the Martinez family-and Eddie and Mindee-over for a BBQ.

Our menu was: ribs-lots and lots of ribs, potato salad, fresh fruit-baked beans-corn on the cob-hot dogs and homeade ice cream and texas sheet cake. YUM!!!

Sarah and Mindee shared a lime for dinner...

We didn't eat till about 8:00. The kids swam and swam in the pool. We chatted and just had a great time.

Check out Sarah in the back corner of the above photo...close up of what she is doing follows.

The fireworks began at around 10:00. We live in a neighborhood that has amazing fireworks. I've never encountered anything like it. There are competitions between houses. The fireworks lasted until past 11:30-for real. They were HUGE!

During the fireworks the kids went out into the cul-de-sac and played with some fireworks that the neighbors purchased. Sparklers, shooters...stuff.

Smokin' Sam!

Me & Sarah

This is a crown that Kylie made from the firework debris.

It was a great night with great food and friends. Happy 4th of July!

Sam can swim!

2008-07-14T10:30:00.000-07:00

Sam can swim! On Wednesday he needed to use a life jacket or floaties to be in the pool. On
Thursday he got a 15 min swim lesson. On Friday he was swimming. Sam can swim all the way across the pool with his head in the water and his arms moving in the funniest little way and his legs kicking. He can swim! I'm amazed by this boy. You give him a little direction and off he goes. Sam can swim.

Snap! There went my ankle...

2008-07-10T21:47:00.000-07:00

Warning! This post is very long-it's for me to reflect on a day that changed my life in extreme ways this past year. It's a way for me to acknowledge what happened so I can continue to heal both physically and mentally and even spiritually. Proceed with caution!

A year ago today I was in Wyoming participating in a Pioneer Trek. We had taken the youth of our church from Seattle Wa. to Martin's Cove Wy. to dress up like pioneers, push and pull handcarts and walk the trail of our pioneer ancestors.

It was an amazing experience and one we were glad to be a part of. My hubby and I were Ma's and Pa's to several fantastic kids. We left Wa. on Monday, arrived in Wyoming late Tuesday after many, many mishaps of which I'm not sharing right now. We trekked out Tuesday night and continued on until Friday when we prepared to head back to WA.

This story begins early Friday morning...

Hubby and I woke up earlier than normal (pre 6 am) that day so we could have a moment and get a head start before we woke up the 'family.'

We were camped right next to the J family. There was a spot between our tents that was perfect for brushing teeth so that is what I was doing. Brushing teeth! While walking back to our tents-calling for the kids to 'Rise and Shine' I stepped into a gopher hole.

My ankle rolled, snapped and I fell to the ground. A hole that small took me down! Man!

The pain was excruciating.

I have sprained my ankle before but this was NOTHING like that. I remember thinking "this must be bad because I can't stop crying and I'm surrounded by teenagers."

I yelled for E.J. to push my ankle back in. He held it instead until the cavalry arrived. Dr. S came and removed my shoe-AAGH!! (I believe I was saying NOOOOO! Don't take it off!)

Dr. N (who is a foot/ankle surgeon and happened to be a Pa on trek) arrived several moments later. He squeezed my upper calf and I ~~screamed~~ well lets just say that I reacted loudly to this event. Dr. N announces that 'I think it's broken! Don't put any weight on it at all.'

Now, I'm in the middle of Wyoming laying on the ground surrounded by tents and kids. I have to get home to Seattle by bus/van which is over 35 hours away. I'm not suppose to put weight on it. Ha!

During all of this, while ~~crying~~ occassionally whimpering and uncontrollably shaking because of shock I was directing kids to get another adult to take over the music for that mornings meeting, find the music in my backpack, pack up camp and go to the meeting without me. The kids thought that it was really funny that I still remembered the things that had to get done that morning and that I maybe shouldn't worry about that stuff and worry about my ankle. Hubby went to get the kids settled at the early morning meeting.

Laura ( of taco soup fame) stayed behind with me. I am soo, soo grateful that she was there. Dr. N needed to stabilize my ankle and wrap it and place it in a boot. While he was doing that Laura held me tight and I cried and cried in her arms. I was crying from the pain of it but I was crying more from the abrupt end to my trek experience. It was over for me. No more hugs and chats with my kids, no riding home on the buses and laughing and singing and being with them. I love these kids and I was not prepared nor ready to have our time end. We had no closure. No goodbyes. It was so sad for me. In one fell swoop it all changed. That darn gopher hole!

This is me with my kids before the hole.

This is me after the hole.

Hubby eventually came back from settling the kids and I was helped into a cool handcart for injured folk. That was now me darn it! Injured! After the meeting it was really busy for everyone. All of the camps needed to be broken down and packed up. Everyone needed to be fed breakfast. The buses needed to be loaded with all of the gear and kids...It was a busy time. No one accounted for a serious injury. I was forgotten.

Picture me here alone without hubby. My leg propped just like the photo.

I was in a ton of pain. I couldn't take the pain medication yet(which Dr. S so generously supplied) because I needed to eat. After the meeting my cart was parked in an out of way place. The 'powers that be' assured hubby that they would get me food and water within minutes and bring around a van so I could get out of the hot, hot sun and get my foot settled.

Hubby needed to go with the kids and make sure everything was taken care of for them. I told him to go. Hubby believe the 'ptb and I believed the 'ptb' (acronym for powers that be) So, there I sat. The cart propped on a bucket. My foot propped on a thin bar. The sun shining overhead-getting hotter and hotter. I had no water, no sunscreen, no food, a broken ankle, no way to take the pain medication and no one around me. It was BAD! I was left there for over 2 hours- (3 hours had already passed before this part began)

On a side note, this moment truly helped me understand a smidgen of what the pioneers went through. This particular place was refuge for hundreds of trapped pioneers who were waiting to be rescued. Many died and all suffered because of the elements which they were stuck in. They however were waiting for days and weeks not just hours. Also, those who ended up rescuing the pioneer company were ones who took matters into their own hands as well. I was about to be rescued by those who took matter into their own hands.

I love you Amy and J.P. for finally rescuing me! Thank you!

Now, back to my story; My dear friend Amy happened upon me and asked me what in the world was I doing there? I lost it! I truly went into hysteria. I think I cried and shrieked over and over again 'They forgot me.' 'I'm not suppose to be here.' 'Help me! Help me!'

Thank goodness for great, inspired and responsive friends. Amy took immediate action and ran and found the closest staff member. It was J.P. My dear friend who has always been around to help whenever help has been needed. J.P was busily loading the buses. He dropped everything and ran to me and asked what I needed. I couldn't respond in any coherent way so he took action. I remember very distinctly J.P. leaning over the handle bars and looking at me very intently. He spoke very earnestly to me and apologized to me for being left alone for so long. (although he had no knowledge of my situation before this very moment -he didn't need to know to understand that something had gone horribly wrong) He promised me that he would remedy this immediately and take care of me. J.P. then went and got a van and within a moment he had pulled up, pulled out the seats and was putting me in the van.

I cannot express enough right here what gratitude I feel for the action that took place on my behalf. For the acknowledgement of my feelings. For being willing to make quick decisions to remedy a very bad situation. For kindness, for friendship and for true, Christlike love!

Amy meanwhile had gone to get Hubby. He was horrified. He ran to the food area to get me food-they had already packed it all up. He opened coolers and found me food anyways. He brought it to me and I could finally take pain medication. (5 1/2 hours since the break occured)

I was in the back of the van in unbelievable pain, crying into a pillow and trying to understand what I was experiencing when the 'ptb' pulled up. Ptb started talking very loudly with J.P. I was not suppose to be in that van they said. I had to go in another van. J.P. stated that he would not move me. PTB insisted on moving me. J.P. said 'absolutely not!' J.P. won. I sobbed. On top of it all-being abandoned, in pain the PTB was actually angry that action was taken without their permission and the action didn't fit into their plan.

It is obvious that I still have issues with this part of the story. I'm working through them. I just got around to acknowledging them a few weeks ago. Boy do I have issues!

Our trek family in SLC

J.P. assured me that he would not leave my side until I was safely home in Washington. He kept this promise. Hubby and I drove with him and his wife the whole way home. Even when we stopped in SLC for a few hours, he stayed with us.

It was on the drive home after internalizing the previous days events and talking aloud in a safe atmosphere that I realized I had experienced hysteria. It was very scary! Very raw! and a very vulnerable feeling! I hope to never feel that again.

Upon arriving home, I had x-rays and yes my ankle was broken. The bone snapped clear off and had significant ligament damage. I was in a bright pink cast for 6 weeks-and I couldn't put any weight on my ankle at all. Then into the black boot for several weeks, followed by a brace for several weeks. In the middle of this we bought a house and moved. I was out of the brace for 3 weeks when my ligament showed itself to be a problem. Back into the boot for several weeks and then the brace until surgery on April 18th to repair the ligament and cartilage. In the hospital for 2 days, no walking for 7 weeks, a couple of complications, extreme and unexpected pain and difficulty.

This is my ankle 3 weeks post-op. Ewwww! Gross. Funny story-I came home from the hospital with a drain tube that needed to be removed on day 3. I was suppose to go back into Dr. N's office but I couldn't because I was just in too much pain and I have too many stairs. So that evening, Dr. N came here to my house to remove the drain after t-ball. (Hubby was the coach and Dr. N's son was on the team) My bed was surrounded by several t-ball players and all of my kids plus 2 of the neighbor kids. They thought it was so cool! A house call in this day and age. Amazing!

It's been a difficult, difficult year. I didn't see this coming. At the one year mark, I'm finally walking again. I'm in quite a bit of pain still. I wear a brace. I'm at about a 30% activity level and everything I do is affected by this accident. Dr. N does tell me that surgery was very successful and I can expect to be at 95% in about 6 months.
It's been a very difficult road mentally and I've been surprised by that. I believe it's because I haven't had one day of being pain free this entire year. It's affected my patience level tremendously in a negative way. I've gained a significant amount of weight due to inactivity. My 2 closest friends whom I treasure and need have walked away from me, I believe due to the move and because I just haven't been myself. It's the only thing I can think of and they both say everything is cool. It's not. I miss them so much. They were brightness and laughter to me and always made me a better person.

It's 11:00 p.m. now. I've been writing and re-writing this all day. I've been thinking about it and I've been talking it through. I genuinely feel that this one year anniversary is a healing anniversary for me. I'm finally on the healing side of this accident. My pain is lessening and I will continue to heal emotionally and spiritually. I know that I would go again on trek. We had amazing experiences; walking, pushing, pulling, loving, sharing, singing, crying, bonding, feeling, helping...there is a connection with our kids that will last forever. Next time, I would just be a little more careful when it comes to where I'm brushing my teeth :)

Thanks for hanging in there with me...it helps to have friends! Goodnight!

My plea for help was answered

2008-07-05T16:03:00.000-07:00

You know, this blog world is an amazing world. I can't believe that I just discovered it a few weeks ago. I feel so lucky. I put out a plea and within a couple of hours it's answered.

Thank you Miranda for quickly answering my questions. See here. Ha! I did it! Yea!!

Okay the next challenge is to ~~learn to~~ strike through words . Amazing!

For all of you (all 7 of you) who haven't discovered Miranda's blog, I cannot recommend it enough. Travel on over here to take a look. One day when I was uneasy (example here) and knowing I needed to change some things with our homeschooling I came across Miranda's blog. I was in bed due to ankle surgery so I had a lot of time on my hands. I actually went back to the very beginning and read forward for several hours. Miranda inspired me in so many ways. I knew by the end of that day the types of changes that would be taking place in my home in regards to homeschooling. Later that week as confirmation I suppose, I came across this amazing blog. Once again, helping me to let go of conformity and trusting my kids and myself more and working with their needs and desires. It's a really exciting time for us. (see here)

On a funny note; I didn't know that blog owners could see how long people spent on their blogs. I'm sure that the owners of my 4 favorite blogs think I'm a stalker! (I kind of am but in a really, really positive way. )

I'm think I've mastered the hyperlink 'move' really well. I'm so excited!

Please! I Beg of You! Help Me!

2008-07-05T10:48:00.001-07:00

Okay I have two questions that I'm desperate to have answered. So please, anyone? HELP!?

1. How do you cross out words while/after typing. Mrs. G over at Derfwad Manor uses this all the time and I need to know. So I type (now imagine a line crossing out 'so I type') How do I do this

2. How do I link to something via a word: 'here' becomes a different color and it magically links to a previous post or an entirely different website.

I'm begging anyone who knows the answer to these mysteries to please reply to me and help me!

Thank you and have a nice day!

Reflections on an old Honda, 6 kids and a sack of spuds

2008-07-03T18:53:00.000-07:00

It was July and I was about 12 years old. It was time for the family reunion. My mom LOVES reunions. Nothing makes her happier than being in a 24 hr/day social situation. This reunion was always our version of a vacation every other summer. Head up to Idaho, spend a couple of days with a lot of people who are 2nd and 3rd cousins and head back home. This year was special. It was the year of the Honda Civic Hatchback. Imagine this car brown...

Now, I have 9 siblings. That makes for a family of 12; 7 brothers, 2 sisters, me, a Mom and a Dad. (That right there was an example of my brilliant teaching method in math) My Dad doesn't do trips so he stayed home. My older brothers were working so they stayed home. Now, take another look at that picture because into this car piled my Mom and 16 yr. old sister Karen. They got the front due to driving ability and age. Into the back-through the hatchback of course-piled the rest of us; me, Paul-10, Rachel-8, Matt-6 and Chris-4. Plus all of our clothes, pillows, sleeping bags, food and toys. I am not kidding. We packed our clothes in Hefty garbage bags so we could lay on them. I remember the traveling part of this trip soooo well.

We drove from SLC, UT to somewhere North of Idaho Falls, ID. I distinctly remember how we were laying on the soft garbage bags, pillows and sleeping bags and everytime a curve would come up in the road we would try to get on the same side of it in the car so we could roll with it. What fond memories-it makes me feel so sad for my children who will never have that experience of rolling around in a car while speeding down a highway... Hmmm! I think there might have been a few safety issues here! Nah!
Anyways, I remember my mom stopping at a grocery store to pick up a loaf of bread and jar of peanut butter for our lunch. She opened up the hatchback and out came tumbling not 1, 2, 3 or 4 kids, but 5 kids. I can still see the lady's expression who saw us tumbling out of that car in the grocery store parking lot. Her jaw opened so hard her chin seemed to be touching the pavement. I believe she was aghast! (the definition of aghast: struck with overwhelming shock or amazement; filled with sudden fright or horror. )( Prime example of vocabulary being taught-I tell you-I'm here for your furthering education)
We thought it was soooo great. I mean we were going on our family reunion vacation.

I don't remember one thing about that reunion once we arrived BUT...
when we were ready to head back home a thoughtful potato farming cousin sent us home with a 100 lb. bag of Idaho Spuds.
They ended up in the front seat on the floor under my sisters feet. Nice!
I don't think that Honda was ever the same again. I also believe that we are the reason seatbelt laws are now on the books. I'm really not kidding-7 people jammed into a tiny, tiny brown Honda Civic. Memories!

Too much to say!

2008-07-03T09:38:00.000-07:00

I have too many things that I want to blog about! So, until I can get focused I'm going to make a list and then soon I'll blog about those things.
1. Why I'm so pleased with Kylie's results in school and how that relates to homeschooling
2. My garage, overflowing and chaotic from the move last year was cleaned out yesterday by me and the neighborhood kids to almost perfection before the rain began. It's some great photos
3. Why I homeschool!
4. Why I send a kid to public school
5. Our racoon
6. The change a backyard pool can make in the running of a household
7. The change a backyard pool can make in the happiness of the household
8. The change a backyard pool can make in the laundry pile/now laundry mountain of the household.
9. Otterpops
10. Lilly-because all of my other munchkins have gotten a post all to themselves and she hasn't yet
11. My day at a glance-because I want to document this for future generations
12. Why do I not use a Menu Plan?
13. The story of the ankle-pictures and all (EWWW! Sooo disturbing and Frankensteinish) (I know I made up that last word but it seems to fit)
14. Therapy from the blogworld-it is so much cheaper, can be done on your own time and I'm constantly surprised by the therapy that occurs when I didn't know I was attending a session-I thought I was just roaming blogs (ok, that may end up being the post in its entirety but I needed notes for myself )

All right-that's all I'm going to list as a reminder for myself. I may have alienated you my 5 readers but I will have my thoughts and year documented. Yea! for me!!!!
I'll post when the last of the garage is done!

I'm soooooo TIRED!

2008-06-26T17:50:00.001-07:00

Have you ever been so tired you could cry? Well, I am that tired! but I'm not crying-yet.

Every year my 8-11 yr old girls participate in a 3 day camp. It's called Activity Day Girls Camp. They take 6 different classes everyday and have tons of fun. The classes this year were Hip Hop, Cooking, Babysitting, Beautiful You, Crafts, Sewing, Choir, Outdoors (rope tying, whittling, compassing, obstacle course etc).

I've been in charge of the craft class for the past 3 years. The camp ended today. Planning, preparing, executing, teaching, managing and cleaning up after 80 plus girls crafting everyday can be exhausting and I tell you-I'm exhausted!

This year we did a service project on the first day. We colored, cut and laminated flannel board stories. We are sending them to childrens organizations in Peru, Bolivia and South Africa. The girls made over 80 kits on that day.

The second day, each girl made a journal and a darling paper clip bookmark.

Today, the girls made mini clip boards that are the perfect size for post it notes. The three days involved tons of adhesive, paper, ribbon, punches and ink. If I ever get up again I'll take some photos and post them.

My big challenge every year is staying within my little budget. The budget this year was $100 for all three days and the total spent was $99.87. Sa-weet!
It was a great time for everyone...and I tell you-I'm so tired I could cry!

Pagie loves

2008-06-25T19:04:00.000-07:00

Paige! What a girl.

She is my second born, a peacemaker, she always calls me mommy loves, is extremely talented on the piano and is an amazing singer, a huge help and I find her to be very funny.

One day I was babysitting a friends baby. Paige had taken over caring for him. I asked Paige after several hours what the baby's name was and Paige responded by saying "I don't really know." "Well, what are you calling him then?" I asked. Paige replied " I've been calling him Bob!" That cracked me up. Good for you Paige for just making a decision and making it work. The baby's name was Benjamin by the way. That is so typical of Paige. She is quite the little problem solver and she can make most situations work out.

Paige is really fun to have at home. I love to watch her mind wrap around a new concept and see her apply it to different areas. It's so exciting for me. She gets so excited as well when she understands something which she has categorized as hard.

This is Paige doing a headstand in the snow! I tell you-she is funny!

I love you Paige!

The Last Day of 6th Grade for Kylie

2008-06-19T12:28:00.000-07:00

STOP reading this post if you don't want to hear me go on and on about my oldest daughter. I want to give her a Shout Out! for a job well done and a very successful year. So... move on if you don't want to be part of gushing, ohhing and ahhing. You've been warned!

Well, school is out! Kylie my oldest, attends middle school. She attended 4th grade and now 6th grade in public school. She has had an awesome year. So, to brag about Kylie-she finished school with a 4.0 for the entire year. In fact, her lowest percentage was 97.5 and that was in gym-figures! She is in a challenge program and excelled in it. She had great teachers, great friends and a great experience. I'm so happy for her. She loves to learn. She only stressed me out about 5 times this year when she would give me a paper to type at 10:00 at night that was due the next morning. The rest of her work she took care of on her own. I'm so glad she has the personality to organize her time, workload and fun.
All of her teachers commented on how respectful and kind Kylie is. (gushing happening now)
In her non-school hours, Kylie is on a Performance Dance Team and takes Jazz and Ballet. This is 4 hours of dance class a week. She is also involved with a church group every Wednesday and is the President of a service organization. I'm gushing I know! I'm just so pleased with how she has handled and excelled this year!
CONGRATULATIONS KYLIE ON A JOB WELL DONE! I LOVE YOU!

Look Mom! No training wheels!

2008-06-17T23:44:00.000-07:00

This morning after Sam announced he was done with school for the day, he raced outside to play. A few moments later, I heard shrieks from the lawn. Paige was shouting for me to come right away. I couldn't see Sam. He was behind the van. I was afraid that someone was hurt. Before I could ask, Sam came out from behind the van riding a bike! He taught himself to ride a bike! At first he would hold onto the van to gain momentum and then ride onto the grass.

Within 4 or 5 minutes though, he figured out how to push off while pedaling. It was so exciting. By the time his dad got home from work, he was riding all over the cul-de-sac, making turns, braking to stop etc. It was so exciting to see his determination and joy.

In thinking about this I'm reminded of a few things. Kids have an

amazing capacity to learn on their own. To think out problems, find solutions, try it out, try it out somemore until they are satisfied with the result. Sam without any parental assistance taught himself to ride a bike. He told me his best friend Zach would push off to pedal-thats how he came up with that. He learned from watching Zach several months ago.

I have much to learn from this real life example of child led learning. Children will learn when they are ready. You can force them to learn but when it is on their own terms, the knowledge is so much more tangible and there is an excitement to it that can't be reproduced when it is on a parents timetable vs. the childs. I am posting this for my benefit. So I can remember. So I won't forget that I'm leaving my comfort zone for something better. I must remember.

Funny side note-the only bike helmet we had out front was Lilly's. A pink barbie helmet. Sam wore this all day. However, by the end of the day he determined he could no longer ride until he got an appropriate boy bike helmet because barbie just will not do for a 6 year old boy.

Sam practiced all day learning to ride around the man hole cover-look at that sense of accomplishment spread over his face. I love it!

What in the world happened here?

2008-06-17T14:21:00.001-07:00

I just downloaded over 600 pictures off of my digital camera and found this:

This sad, little photo of Sarah who is normally so bright and cheery.

Now, I have several questions about this photo:
What in the world was happening that sweet Sarah looked so sad, concerned, devastated?
What is in Sarah's hand?
Why is she clutching her coat?

I know that this was taken at a T-Ball game that I did not attend (ankle). No one claims having taken this photo. It just makes me wonder. Poor, poor Sarah!

What a mess!

2008-06-15T20:47:00.000-07:00

Well! I made the mistake of going dowstairs today. A place that I haven't seen in several weeks (ankle ya' know). What a huge mistake that was. Imagine 5 children under the age of 12 having complete, unsupervised access to the large play room/craft room/tv room for several weeks. It's sooo horrifying that I cannot even take a photo of it. Books, toys, DVD'S, craft supplies, blocks, cups, spoons, bowls, more cups, clothes, games everywhere!!!! and the list goes on.
Upon seeing this horror I did the only sensible thing-I promptly turned around and went back upstairs. I'm convinced that if I stay up here long enough, the downstairs horror will disappear altogether, I'll realize it was a bad, bad dream and it really is what I envision in my mind...a place of joy, laughter, learning, tranquility and cleanliness. I'm not taking any chances of running into that monstrosity of a place again. I'm up here until it can be proven that cleanliness is back. Wish me luck! and by the way-help!

T-Ball

2008-06-15T00:11:00.000-07:00

My son Sam plays T-ball! My dear hubby is the coach. Today was the last game of the season for the Thunderbolts. I have missed every game due to the ankle until today! I finally got to attend a game. YEAH!!! (I am waving my arms in excitement while exclaiming loudly) It was a GREAT game! I yelled and shouted and got in all of my cheering that I had missed this season in one game. (my throat is a little sore :) My daughters were horrified! My son loved it. In fact, Sam loved it sooo much, everytime he came up to bat he asked me to keep cheering and "don't stop until I run." That's the spirit Sam! Know that you are going to hit that ball and run. I LOVED cheering him on and everyone else that was playing because face it, I needed to make up for lost time. It was great fun.

Now this is a look of concentration! Go! Sam, Go! Go! Sam, Go! Go! Sam, Go! (do you get the idea?)

Sam is a funny guy. He has the ability to distract everyone who comes to his base by talking to them. Before they know it, the game might as well be over and they are on a playground chatting away...but it always happens in the middle of a game. Hysterical!

Sam also loves to play catcher. Once Sam goes down to the ground to get a ball he stays there until he has possession of it. I call it the army crawl of baseball. It's very funny to watch.

(the ball he was crawling after was at the fence line-look closely and you can see the fence far off in the distance)

Today he was dying because it was 'soooo hot'. It was 64 degrees in Seattle. Hot! Ha!

After the final game, we all went to Round Table for pizza. We were the last ones to arrive-of course. Coach Dad was packing things up and we had to drop some tired children off at home and...and... Anyways, we finally get our pizza as they begin handing out trophies and thank you gifts. Sam gets distracted and before he knows it, a worker comes and throws away his pizza. The poor kid was starving and crying. Well, the worker got him another pizza in short order. Yea! for cheese pizza. Sam actually asked if he could play t-ball next year. A miracle!

Renewal

2008-06-13T21:28:00.000-07:00

So, I've been in a funk lately due to my ankle surgery...long story short-I broke my ankle 11 months ago and I've had problems with it everyday since that fateful July 11th, 2007. Finally had to have surgery 8 weeks ago and it has been very difficult. Mainly because I'm a mother of 5 children, homeschool, try to overachieve in all sorts of areas and this being down for months has really challenged me mentally.

I've spent a lot of time online checking out blogs. I have to say that I've found 3 that have truly been lifesaving:

trust the children, nurtured by love, confessions of a pioneer woman

When I say lifesaving, I genuinely mean that. It's been more productive than therapy, I'm sure. For these people to let me sneak into their lives and help me let go, become, cry, make new goals and just be okay with what is happening has been great.

Pioneer woman is soooo great. She loves her husband soo much that it makes me want to shout from the rooftops: I love my husband too! This ankle has been such a strain on our family and our marriage-I've become very, very negative because of how little I have done to contribute to our family and to be honest, I feel incredibly guilty for everything that has fallen on hubby's shoulders. He seems to be fine with it. I, however am not! Thus the strain.

Ree (pioneer woman) has re-kindled my desire to be more loving and vocal about it. To remember that hubby is the greatest thing in this world and that I adore him! Ree loves her life! I love my life! I have forgotten how much I love my life (ankle ya' know) I am going to try to mimic Ree's example until it becomes my own.

If you read this-which I know that there are two people that do (thanks Kim and Rebecca) head over to pioneerwoman-read their love story. It's fantastically fun and I laughed out loud several times! She's also a fantastic photographer-makes me want to put on some cowboy boots, ride a horse and go wrestle a calf! Yee Haw!

Baby Thoughts

2008-06-05T08:47:00.000-07:00

I just received a phone call from Joe. He and Beck just had a baby. A beautiful big boy named Jack Foster. That is a great name.

I just read a blog at Kristins place. She and David finally were able to adopt after several years. Baylie is her name. She is beautiful and a different race. Kristin realizes that this will affect her beautiful baby and is pondering the racial tensions in this country.

I watch closely my dear, dear friends EM. They have been married for 6 years. No children. I know it is not by choice. I know that there is sadness and longing for behind their kind eyes. They don't say a word however and keep it private.

Recently, I walked into a room at church and knew immediately upon seeing my friend Kim that she was experiencing death-the loss of a 17 week pregnancy. I recognized the absolute grief, fear and confusion that were in her eyes and in her shoulders. I only know because it took me back to my own experiences with the same death.

All of this makes me reflect on my own experience with babies. In the first 5 years of marriage - 4 miscarriages. Months and sometimes years of infertility between pregnancies. Such sadness and longing and feeling 'ripped off'. Then 5 pregnancies over 10 years that worked. I did feel joy but I didn't know a body could be that sick-feeling on the brink of death-for so long. I didn't know if I would survive or if I wanted too. Why was this so hard? Why did I do it so many times? Why? I guess because the longing and desire won out. I guess because I experienced death of a little one who I didn't even hold. I guess because they called to me and told me they were worth it and please do it for them. They reminded me in my dreams.

I want to hold Jack Foster close and say welcome to this beautiful world. I want to hold Kristin and let her know that she will do this! She will protect her daughter from the injustices and unkindnesses of this world and God will protect her little soul from breaking. I want to shout out to EM talk to me! I know! I understand! Keep trying for that little one. I want tell Kim again-I'm sorry!

I look around at my munchkins-grateful for their chaos, tantrums and love. I wish I was brave enough to do it again. But I'm not. I asked in prayer that the dreams stop. That my 9 pregnancies be enough. The dreams stopped. I think I'll go visit Jack Foster!

An Aha! Moment

2008-05-20T12:30:00.001-07:00

DARN!!~I just wrote a great post about soul searching and DRATS! if it didn't dissapear. Well...I'm not re-writing it. But the gist of it is: ankle surgery = relaxed schedule=unschooling=peace=new way of life=fear=courage=help=Nurtured by Love blog and Trust the children blog=here we go!

Changes & Homeschooling

2008-05-18T23:12:00.000-07:00

Well...my family has homeschooled off and on for the past 8 years. I've always been a structured homeschooler...using a complete curriculum package and it's always been great. Since bringing the three kids back home this past winter...the same old same old isn't working. It's not working easily for me and not effective for a couple of my children. So...for the first time in my adventures of homeschooling I'm doing some serious re-evaluating. What do I keep? What do I throw out? How much trust do I give to my childrens ability to learn? How much do I trust myself without everything being planned out for me? I think that if I can let go we will thrive! I pray I can let go!

Twilight

2008-05-13T22:04:00.000-07:00

Since I have so much down time on my hands, I reread Stephenie Meyer's 'Twilight' series over the past three days. One day for each book. It's my 4th time reading Twilight. My second time reading New Moon and Eclipse. I love, love, love these books. I love the way Edward and Bella have rescued each other and because of that they have become completely different beings. I love the willingness that Edward puts forth to listen to and understand Bella. In fact, he must know what she is thinking or he is driven crazy. I love the fact that Bella is able to have immense amounts of love for her parents even though they haven't parented her. She is willing to give her life to save theirs. Shows amazing amounts of forgiveness and understanding. I love that Edward challenges Bella often. I love Jacob. "Edward is a drug! You can't live without him. But I am your air and sun...choose me!" That was the line that stuck with me today as I was finishing up Eclipse. I choose the Jacob in my life to marry. I'm so, so excited for the fourth book to come out. I can't wait for the movie and I've been spending time looking at sites dedicated to Twilight. It's actually really fun . I guess I'm taking advantage of my down time and roaming on the computer in ways I won't be able to when I'm back on my feet.

The power of Taco Soup

2008-05-07T12:56:00.000-07:00

So I'm sitting here on the computer trying to edit my blog to make it look more interesting. I'm actually sitting in my recliner with my foot up-feeling very unproductive and maybe a little sorry for myself. I look out and see the Big Van pull up. I call it the Big Van because the family that drives it has 7 children under the age of 10. The mom, Laura is a fabulous chef, decorator, organizer, mother and the list goes on and on. Such admirable qualities that I strive to possess. Well.... in walks Laura (mom) who says "I've brought you lunch!" She proceeds to find a bowl for me, and pulls out of a large brown bag-tied with a ribbon no less- the base of taco soup and then opens up a box. From this box she adds chicken, black beans, corn, green onions, cheese, tortilla strips and says "Enjoy! "

Now that is a moment of pure kindness, service and love! I truly feel as if Heaven is watching over me and I feel very, very blessed right now and not so sorry for myself anymore. Yesterday I actually was thinking how helpful it would be to have someone bring me lunch. I'm so grateful that Laura is sensitive to the spirit and listens and follows through. I feel very, very loved. Besides Laura is one of the best cooks I know and taco soup from her is better than any restaurant anywhere!

I feel like I'm the luckiest girl in the whole wide world!!! The power of Taco Soup!

Good Intentions

2008-04-28T20:54:00.000-07:00

So, I've been reading a couple of interesting blogs lately and feel like I should participate for my own 'journaling' sake. I think it would be cool to print my blog every year into a book and keep a record for my family...so...we'll see if I can stick with this more consistantly than scrapbooking, journaling and the like.

My mom never called back to let me help her set up a blog, which to be honest I was kind of bummed about. I think she would have thoroughly enjoyed documenting their three month long vacation in Hawaii. and I would have thoroughly enjoyed helping her but it didn't happen. So... I'm going to use the intended blog space as my own.

Frustrating for everyone I'll be jumping back and forth until I get a rhythm going with this blog :)
But it may be only for myself so not frustrating at all.

Right now I'm recovering from ankle surgery which I had 9 days ago. I can't use my right leg in any way for 6 entire weeks. This is not fun or easy. So...I'm hanging around an awful lot-not moving a lot. I imagine if I use some time wisely, I'll get quite a bit posted. This is where my Good Intentions come in...wish me luck!

A New Day

2008-01-11T01:10:00.000-08:00

My mother and father are in Hawaii for the next three months. I am going to help my mom start her own blog filled with Hawaiian escapades. So...this is my practice run. All for my mom! Love you!