Quality Adjectives

Today as I was helping Amy work on a writing project, we were talking about the use of "quality adjectives". She was fighting the improving of her vocabulary, so I left her with a cheat sheet of "quality adjectives" and instructions on which words she may not use. (This is a tool that the Institute for Excellence in Writing promotes.) She finished a sentence or two then slipped me this note.

"This is RUTHLESS. May I please have a break. I am tired!"

Evan and I thought her use of "quality adjectives" was so funny!

Our Little Ballerina

A Bumper Crop

Last week, we made these cute little pumpkins from Circus peanuts. I got the idea from Family Fun magazine. Click here to find out how.

The kids loved making these! They were a great incentive for the kids to get their math done. Even Emily got in on the action and made a couple of them herself.

Here they are all lined up in our entry way along with a new flower arrangement I came up with. It's basically a vase inside of a vase. Candy corn lines the in between section. Then a few mums with water in the inside vase and a few preserved leaves and fake eucalyptus branches tucked in to hide the top. Amy decided that one of the pumpkins needed to be awarded 1st prize like at the fair!

Rejoicing Today

The Lord was not willing for the night time construction to end. It looks like we have many more weeks of this. So we will write a few more letters, then trust our good and loving God. I was encouraged by reading 1st Peter this morning.

"Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you;

but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.

Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right."

1 Peter 4:12,13, & 19

A Rough Start

The week before we started school back in August, God really convicted me of my joyless attitude. I was hit with the realization that it would be more important for me to model cheerfulness and contentment to my kids when our schedule is knocked off balance than to "fight" to keep things in line.

I think there is a great value in schedules and it is worth putting time and effort into planning. So I'm not saying that these things aren't important. However, for me, I tend to place too much importance and more significantly, I tend to look for validation in how tightly we stuck to the schedule. Did I get (and my kids manage to do) everything I had planned for the day? I am so tempted to derive my worth based on what we accomplished.


God has shown me in the past, through good teaching mostly, that interruptions from outside are not to be seen as irritations, but as "divine appointments". So I am, through God's grace, mostly able to be cheerful when the disruption is from someone or something outside my family. But when the disruption is from my kids acting grumpy, lazy, distracted or my husband needing me to tend to something that I didn't plan for that day, my sin nature shines right through. And it isn't pretty.


So guess what God saw fit to send to us the night before our first day of school?

This from 4am to midnight. See that fence. That's our backyard. I edited out Amy's bedroom window, but it's right behind the fence.

Beep beep, scrape, CACHUNG, BOOM! Repeat. All night long. This does not make for happy children who are able to focus and stay on task.

We found out that the construction project they are doing on the road behind our house is in "emergency mode" and they have a nighttime permit to work 4am to midnight. Sean wrote several very eloquent letters to city council, the mayor and the head of the construction company. They modified their work from 5am to 11pm. This was something that God was allowing for our good and His glory.

It has put this area of showing grace to my kids in the forefront of my mind. Since we've been living with this noise for 4 weeks now, I have a constant reminder to choose to show cheerfulness and give grace. I haven't always done what I should do or want to do. Driving out sin is hard work. But God is good and He has helped me to grow in this area that I have struggled in for such a long time.

Last week, we escaped the heat and the noise and took the kids to the beach.

And Lord willing, tonight is the last night they have a permit to work at night!

Country Girls

This summer, Amy had the opportunity to take horse back riding lessons from a good friend of mine. She had been wanting to do it for a couple of years now, so my parents gave Amy lessons for her birthday present this year.

It was so fun to see her in a different environment. She loves horses, the country and her teacher. She donned her jeans and her boots and was in her element. Since my friend has three little girls, Emily had a nice play date while Amy had her lesson each week.

So now, were praying about whether or not to keep up the lessons. It's a bit of a drive to get there. It's always so hard to keep the activities in balance. We don't want the kids to be doing so much that they are over scheduled, but this seems to be something that Amy really loves. Our art teacher retired this year, so that's one less class. And with Sean's weird schedule, and homeschooling, we have some extra free time during the week that we wouldn't have otherwise.

Amy and Emily with "the kitty". (No name yet!)
Amy grooming her horse before a ride.
Emily, Kate and Rose pretending that they are horses. Notice the rope around them!
Amy was concentrating so hard on learning her new skills.
She looks so grown up in this picture!

Motivation

Last week, I had a scary episode where my throat closed up and I couldn't breath. I had eaten a couple of grapes from our back yard, and when the juice from the grapes hit my throat it spasmed. Evan was right there asking if I was OK. (It's always good to have a boy scout in the house!)

I was so scared, I peed my pants. Yes, I really did. And I didn't care, because all I cared about was being able to breathe. As I was about to call 911 everything calmed down and I was fine.

After seeing a doctor, it turns out I have a very uncommon form of reflux called Laryngopharyngeal Reflux (LPR). I had no idea since I don't have any of the classic signs like heartburn. However, the acid from my stomach is making its way to the back of my throat causing it to be red and irritated. (I know this because the ENT specialist I saw put a little camera up my nose and into my throat!) Because of the irritation, the sweetness of the grape juice cause my larynx to spasm. Think about the zing you get when something too sweet or cold hits a sore tooth. It's also know as a larygospasm. Click here to see a video of what the throat looks like.)

The doctor gave me a list of things to do to help the LPR go away. And I'm really motivated to never have a larygospasm again!

Don't eat 3-4 hours before bed time.
Avoid fatty and fried food.
Eat small meals, slowly
Avoid chocolate, peppermint and carbonated drinks
Avoid Caffeine
Avoid Tomato and citrus foods

This list looks more like a way to lose weight. Back in January, I said I wanted to be eating more healthy this year. Now, I'm extra motivated!

Summer Highlights

Thanks for coming back after such a long break! I missed blogging, but definitely needed the break.



We started off the summer with Evan and Sean going off to Boy Scout camp at Catalina Island. They had a blast! The girls and I got to go spend some time with a friend whose husband was away on a mission trip the same week. It was lovely. Lots of long talks, a few horseback riding lessons for Amy and giggly girls.


Sean and Evan on a long hike, pausing in front of the bay.

Evan with his group's camp staff.

Evan earned his merit badge for shooting and also made it into the dime club (five shots into the center). He has really good aim!


The whole troop with dads and even one grandpa.

The kids entered art work into the fair again this year. Evan took two first place ribbons for his photography and two second place ribbons for his paintings. Amy took two first places for her art.

Amy's watercolor.Evan standing in front of his winning photo of Emily.

In July we went to San Diego. We went to Sea World, the San Diego Zoo, the Wild Animal Park, and the Midway museum.

The Midway Museum is an aircraft carrier that has been decommissioned and opened up for visiting. Here's Evan sitting in the cockpit of one of the planes.

Emily at the petting zoo. She kept wanting to hug this goat!

The kids at Sea World, taking a break in the shade.

We took our tent trailer and camped while we were down there. The kids loved being able to ride bikes and scooter when we got back from the day's activity.

One of my goals for the summer was to go through drawers and cupboards and clean! While I didn't get to all of them (or even as much as I had hoped) I did get a lot cleaned out. And when I went through the bottom kitchen cupboard, I found out that the whole shelf was sagging and about to break! Sean fixed it for me and then built me a nice sliding shelf so I could get into the back corner without having to lay on my stomach and blindly reach under the shelf.

The finished product!

Summer's harvest of lavender.

Off-Line for the Summer

Well, with the summer break, I thought I'd have more time for blogging. Instead, I am finding that I have less! Days are full of extra lessons (fun ones!) and extra outings as well as some serious deep cleaning. Throw in a vacation or two and our summer is full! So I decided to to make it official and just take the summer off. See you in September!

Misunderstanding...

Is when your 3 year old daughter tries to tell you after swimming lessons to go back and get her pink purse, but you are in a rush to get home, and since you are holding a pink purse in your hand you tell all the kids to get in the car, only to find out later that she brought two pink purses and managed to put your cell phone in one of them.......the one left behind at swimming lessons.

Is also when your husband, tired and hungry at 8:30pm, stops at In and Out Burger on the way home only to find out when he gets home that you had cooked up two chickens and a roast. Plus, he being the spontaneous loving guy that he is, bought french fries for all the kids not knowing that they were in bed with their teeth brushed...... Pull out those tooth brushes for round two!

Summer Ideas

In keeping with the theme for planning for the summer, the kids and I made up a list of projects and activities that we would like to do this summer. We put it up on the refrigerator to give inspiration when the kids get bored, and remind us of what we want to accomplish. In no particular order here is our list.

Pop - up Cards (We bought an interesting book on how to make these.)
Origami
Water balloons
Squirt Gun wars
Painting
Movie Festival
Week at Grandmas and Papas
Swimming at Club
Air Soft
Make Jam
Put a door on the club house, paint the inside and "work" on it - needs authorization and funding!
Children's Museum
Board Games
Bowling
Waterslides
Slip and Slide
Make Ice Cream and Sorbet
Lemonade stand
Model Airplanes
Crochet project

*I'd love to hear some of your ideas for summer!

Summer Goals

Over at GirlTalk they are talking about summer goals. When I was growing up, my mom had a summer theme for each of us girls. Usually, it involved one issue of the heart and one life skill. So last week while the kids were at Karate class, I wrote down some of our summer goals for this year.



Evan: Learn to keep track of the time and be ready for _____ on time. (Need to buy a new watch!)



Amy: Learn to keep clothes and shoes organized and put away.



Emily: Keep working on being able to play by herself quietly for a short time.



Me: Organize and declutter rooms.



Usually I have a bit more free time in the summer since I don't have lessons to teach. This year, I am hoping to take one room per week and focus my energy and time on tackling the clutter. Drawers, cupboards, and closets are all going to be turned upside down one at a time as much as possible. We are in town for 9 weeks so I have picked out 9 rooms: kitchen, school room, my bed room, living room, Emily's bedroom, dinning room, downstairs bathroom, guest room, and our bathroom. I purposely left out the older kids rooms since I've been trying to help them get organized throughout this year.



We are also planning for some fun! We are going to have "park" days once a week with our friends from church. I am also hoping to have some friends over for dinner more often. That was put on hold over the winter because Sean's schedule was so funny. And we are adding swimming lessons and horseback riding lessons (for Amy) to the summer schedule.



And last but not least, I'm not taking my teaching hat off entirely. We are going to have a full school day once a week on the Monday's that we are in town. Sean will be home and has offered to take Emily out for the morning. We have some Science and Latin to finish up and a little bit of Math and Language arts as well. Usually we just do a little each morning (an hour or so), but Sean suggested this idea and the kids liked it so we're giving it a try. We should actually get close to finishing the Latin book with 9 weeks of lessons!

Toolin' Up Tuesday: Good Shoes

My good friend Jessica has started a new blog called Life as MOM. As part of her many helpful posts on motherhood, she has started a weekly spot for great tools and gadgets to help us all with our job of being a mom.


When I was little I had knock knees and flat feet. I had to wear special shoes to correct this and they were very expensive as I recall. My parents faithfully took me to the good shoe store in town, the Junior Bootery, and payed full price for these special shoes, even though I HATED them. They were soooooo ugly.*


When the day came that I got to pick out any type of shoe I wanted, I was so excited!

Now days, good shoes that help keep your knees and back comfortable still cost a pretty penny. But they are at least cute! After many years of Target shoes and aching knees, my mom bought me a pair of Dansko shoes for my birthday. It made such a difference in my day! Now she takes me once again to the good shoe store in town and buys me a new pair every year for my birthday.


So whether you are walking with a baby, running after a toddler, or standing next to your child who needs help with his school work, a good pair of shoes are a great tool to get you through your day.

I recommend going to the good shoe store in town and getting measured. Many of the shoes there will be in European sizes which are different than US. Find a brand that you like, then wait for a blow out clearance sale (usually once a year). Or look at Ebay, Sierra Trading Post, or Dansko Outlet for some better prices. My favorite brands are Dansko, Josef Seibel, Merrell, Keen, Ecco, and Ryka.

Your feet will thank you!

*Now days, doctors say that these type of shoes with special inserts don't really correct knock knee. It was really several years of ballet that corrected both problems for me.

Why Was I So Stupid?!

After taking a bowl out of the microwave, I licked my fingers, thinking that I was licking off butter. My tongue started burning! I ran to the faucet and stuck my tongue under the running water. My kids were a little worried as I tried to say I was OK while having my tongue sticking out.

I called poison control because I think I licked up the cleaner that I use to wipe out the microwave. They assured me that one lick of Clorox with bleach wouldn't kill me. It just might give me an upset stomach or make my tongue swell. Lovely. Stand upright for an hour (?!) and drink a big glass of water. Well at least now I'm hydrated.

Moral of the story: Do what I tell my kids and don't lick my fingers! And use lemon to clean my microwave!

Oooh, Scary!

This morning, Emily put raspberries on all her fingers. Then she waved them around and said, "I'm going to get you! I have raspberry fingers!"

Our Boy Scout

Homeschool Review

Kim over at Mercy Days is doing a homeschool review. If you've posted a review of your homeschool year, go on over and link up. Or you can see what she did and read what others have as well.

Here's what our year looked like.

Bible: We went through Nancy Ganz's book "Genesis" from her Herein is Love series. We started out the year having Emily listen in too, but it proved to be more a time for training to sit still and quietly than a time to learn about God's word. So we changed things around and now read "Genesis" during nap time and read a smaller more little kid friendly book with Emily. Some of our favorites with her are "The Big Picture Story Bible" and "Leading Little Ones to God". The big kids and I love Nancy Ganz's series and will be going on to "Exodus" in the next week.


Math: We stuck with Saxon this year. Amy is just about finished with book 3. Evan is close to finishing book 6/5. I think I've gotten too lax on the drills and this has made math quite a bit harder for both of them. We never really got into a good pattern for when to do math. Last year Emily was still taking a morning nap and that was math time. This year, we tried having math during her afternoon nap, but the kids were too tired out. So we switched it to the morning, but it was harder to balance all three kid's needs. So we ended up dropping some of the drill work that we've done in the past. Oh, well.



Next year, Evan is going to try Teaching Textbooks for math. He is just having too hard of a time with Saxon. I'm hoping to do some flashcard drills this summer to brush up on the speed factor. I think Amy will stick with Saxon because we already own it and Teaching Textbooks doesn't start until the 5th grade. If it goes well for Evan we'll order it for her as well.



Grammar: Evan finished up the grammar book we bought last year from Rod and Staff called Building Diligently. It was a very through grammar and writing book so rather than rush him last year, we took it a bit slower, and finished it up this year. Next year we're going to try Easy Grammar on Fishmama's suggestion.



By far, my favorite grammar book has been the First Language Lessons series by Jessie Wise. Evan still chants all the helping verbs. I didn't know that they had more than just the first book at the beginning of the year, so Amy went through English for the Thoughtful Child. I had bought it the first year we homeschooled for Evan do in first grade. It wasn't right for him, but I saved it and Amy really enjoyed it. Not as through as the First Language series, but a nice book to practice writing and grammar as well as penmanship.



But I was so excited to see that Jessie Wise is continuing the FLL series! So we ordered the 3rd grade book and Amy is working through it now. We'll probably do a bit in the summer so she doesn't lose ground, and then just keep with it next year and move on to the 4th grade book when she finishes.



Spelling: After doing 2 years of the Phonetic Zoo and still not finishing! I decided to move to a different program for Evan. He worked through a little book called Apples to Apples. It's just one page a day to reinforce spelling rules. He likes it, it only takes about 10 - 15 minutes a day so we're happy. The fact that he still is a horrible speller has more to do with my genetics than any homeschool curriculum. I was in honors English all the way through, yet only learned to spell after I started teaching my kids phonics. Praise the Lord for spell check!



Amy started going through the Phonetic Zoo after finishing up her Modern Curriculum Press book. She is flying through. She learned one lesson in 3 days! For more of a review of what this program is, click here.



Literature: We have always tied reading and literature with History and Science. I don't really have a formal approach to this. I just borrow a ton of books from the library on whatever subject we're on (Ancient Greece and biographies of Famous Botanists being the most current). Or if I can find them cheap at a book sale, I buy them. Then we try to work in 30 min to an hour of reading time a day. Some days there isn't time for any reading, and other days, when Emily is sick, we have 2-3 hours of reading time. Now that both older kids are reading well, this has been easy. I just have to remember to have them read to me once in a while to check on words they are missing and just guessing on!



Writing: We started this year using Ancient History - based Writing Lessons. It's a great curriculum, one I'd definitely recommend to go with Ancient History. But we didn't get very far with it. Hmm. Not sure what happened.



History: After going through all 4 Story of the World books, this was our first year branching out into something new. We used The Mystery of History. And for the first time SEAN taught history. I had asked him to teach a subject and he graciously agreed. He loves history so that helped. While he is extremely knowledgeable about current history, ancient history isn't something he's very familiar with. So I think he enjoyed it as much or more than the kids. The Mystery of History's first volume is also very heavily weighted with Bible history. Most of the prophets as well as the main Old Testament characters are talked about in their proper time frame. This is what drew me to the curriculum and I think Sean (and the kids) are learning quite a bit. Because of Sean's crazy schedule, we went a couple of months without history (scary for me, but good to give up control!) so we'll be having history lessons in the summer.



Science: This year we went back to studying Biology. For the first part of the year we used The Body Book. It was so much fun! Evan used his "body" as part of his science fair project talking about human anatomy and many of the different systems. We also used various book from the library and The Human Body - God's Design for Life series as supplements.



Instead of using a book on zoology (studying animals) , we started using a basic biology book called Christian Kids Explore Biology. There are lots of great activities to go with the lessons. We're going through it a bit fast, but it would be a great spine to work off of and take a bit more time with.



For botany, in addition to what is covered in Christian Kids Explore Biology, we, of course, are growing a garden. Last week we dissected flowers. Great fun!





Latin: We're a classical homeschool so we study Latin. However, we're a flexible homeschool family. So when crisis arises, Latin is one of the first to make the cut. We only got half way through Latina Christiana 1 this year. Evan seemed to really get it this year. All the grammar that was introduced he really took to, but Amy was lost. I think she would have done much better with Prima Latina, but I just couldn't teach two Latin classes! So I'm not sure what to do about this one. Sean has never really understood the need to teach Latin. And the kids are begging me to take Spanish. Begging. So this will need to be a matter of prayer over the summer.

Logic: This year Evan started doing some Logic studies. I ordered A Case of Red Herrings, Equilibrio, and Mind Benders. They are really, really, fun! The kids both get them out to "play" with quite a bit.

At the beginning of the year, a man from our homeschool group offered to teach a logic class using The Thinking Toolbox. Evan absolutely loved it and did well considering it was a class for junior high students, primarily.

Out side Classes: For PE our kids have been doing Karate for several years now. I really like the Shotokan style. It is very traditional. But really the strength of a dojo lies in the Sensei. We feel very blessed that the school we go to has not one, but 5 outstanding teachers.

We also take Art class. Miss Brenda now, Mrs. Brenda is wonderful!

Amy finished up her second year with the CC Children's Choir. Being involved with a children's choir has been a great way for Amy to learn music and develop her voice.

Preschool: Emily has loved the Kumon preschool books! She has developed her fine motor skills working on cutting and tracing. I picked up a bunch of preschool "workbooks" at the garage sale yesterday. My goal for next year is to train her to work quietly for at least a little bit, while we work on something else.

Farmer's Market for $10

We've been going to Farmer's Market for over 10 years now. Thankfully, we have one almost every day of the week. In the summer I probably spend 1/4 of my grocery budget at Farmer's Market.

But recently I've been thinking a bit more about our budget, and how to best maximize our money. Plus, recently I had mentioned to a friend that you could get a lot for 10 bucks at Farmers Market, So today I set myself a limit of $10 to spend. Good thing I did too, because the neighborhood down the street was having a huge 40 family garage sale bonanza!

So, if you think there is no room in the budget for fresh produce, try the Farmer's market! Here's what we got for our $10. In the picture, there should be more apricots, but the kids couldn't wait to eat them!

1 head of broccoli

1 head of Cauliflower

1bunch of Beets (Try them roasted or boiled. They are so much better than the canned ones!)

8 Oranges

1 Huge Artichoke

2 pounds of Apricots (A splurge for sure, but they taste amazing!)

The Second Time Is The Hardest!

Our family just joined our local health club. Last week, the day after we got back from camping, I went to the 5:45 AM Spin Class. It was a great start. I love to ride, but haven't had much opportunity to do much since having kids . We have a stationary bike at home that I've used off and on. But it's hard for me to get motivated when I'm by myself confined to a garage!

On Thursday, Evan went with me to an evening class. Never mind that my legs were burning and I was out of breath, or that my 11 year old son was spinning twice as fast as me, but my seat hurt! Yikes, I forgot how painful that second day is! Next week Sean is going to go with us. Yes, we are making exercise a family fun affair.

Thankfully, Emily did really well in the childcare room. If you know her, you know what a miracle that is! I'm sure that it helped that her "Sissy mommy" was there to play with her, change her diaper, and help her with the potty. They should be paying me to drop Amy off!

Emily Turns Three!

The birthday girl helping make pancakes for breakfast.

Yeah! I'm three!

We had a small party for Emily earlier this month. She just wanted to have a couple of girls over from church. She was so excited! We had a lot of fun watching all the little ones play and enjoy each other.

Jessica posted some great ideas for theme cakes (mostly for boys). Here is our girly girl cake! Emily wanted a lady bug theme.

Sean's mom and my parents came to the party too. (Thus the great pictures by my dad.) We did a little craft from the left over flower arranging supplies. Evan and Amy were big helpers with the little ones. Evan was a bit disappointed that all Emily's girl friends had sisters and not brothers. Another opportunity to serve and be gracious!

The older kids setting up the flower arranging for the little ones. They had a lot of fun doing this, both the big kids and the little kids.

Sophie with her arrangement.

Sierra with hers.

Playdough was another fun activity.

Beautiful baby Tess.

Patiently waiting for cake!

Little girls also love to play house!

Maggie on the rocking horse.

Evan posing by our friends "Bug".