10.25.14 Posters

It was time for the annual book fair at school. This year there was a new twist or rule set that encouraged children to more fully complete their boards on their own. I was a little hesitant about this wondering what kind of mess it might turn into but was happily shown just how capable they can be.

The kids had definite ideas on what they wanted and how they wanted to present themselves. I loved watching them work and think through the describing of their books. Unfortunately, the little girls were too involved and some scribbles showed up on the finished projects. But as the competitive side of me bristled with no blue ribbons this time, I am very aware that they learned a lot. The real win is the advancement of thinking. And in respect to Addie her skills in processing the written word- both hers and the authors was greatly advanced.

We tried diverting the little girls with popcorn. Livy helped me make it. Between the two of them they removed the lid to the air popper while I was sharpening pencils and we had popcorn everywhere.

I had not purchased green paint- no one had ordered it. Addie informed us we just had to mix the yellow and blue. We did and it worked well! She's learning all kinds of things at school. 

She was all kinds of help in so many ways. Here she is loving Mark while he is coloring his tiger he traced on his poster. He is a really great artist and my most careful color-er.

Aliza likes mystery books. She chose the Westing Game. A book that has a yucky cover but is a great mystery that was not easily solved. She had fun coming up with a way to convey the message of the book. For this kiddo who eats books like cold cereal I think it was especially valuable to have to stop and think about what she read.

I forgot to take pictures of the finished products. 5 kids in elementary school 5 boards completed. Addie learned a lot about writing doing this project. I did not loose all my hair but there were times in the 20+ hours she and I spent composing -mostly me spelling, erasing, demanding more careful work that I thought I would go CRAZY!. But it was pivotal learning project with a lot of worth. Glad we're done till next year and thankful our school still offers/requires some higher level thinking projects.

10.16.14 Just some little things

These two little girls keep me hopping. They are busy, unique, and cute. Amazingly (duh) we don't have repeat personalities here. They are all their own personalities and they are charming and in trouble a lot of the time. Harold is developing some serious baby skills. He loves to show his muscles by packing, throwing, twisting, and in general playing with his little siblings.

Millie has a very individual self-soothing style. She holds her belly button. When she is upset, waking up, a little unsure of the situation she roots for it and holds it. I think it's cute and way easier than dealing with thumb sucking- at this point anyway. And it seems to work for her. No germs are spread seems to be a win-win.

 

And on other fall food storage news we have been blessed by a neighbor to get to pick apples. This is a bumper crop year and it has been amazing and overwhelming to try to get the trees clean. More and more apples seem to be there. But so nice to have the opportunity to work and serve. And enjoy a lot of apple pie!

I love the greenness of it all. We live in a beautiful world.

 

10.15.14 Anna's Evening of Excellence

My daughter is in the Young Women's program in our church. Part of this program is a personal improvement/learning program that has 6 (I think) areas of development to work on. Anna has been doing some here and there in addition to all the other life stuff that normally happens around here. About a month ago when the girls checked in with their leaders Anna was rewarded with 4 regular sized candy bars and given the challenge to do more so she could throw pies in someone's face at their evening of excellence.

The raccoon looking girl just got one of Anna's pies in the face

Anna's fellow classmates. Her back is to the crowd. They had all just smashed their first pies.

 She continued to plug away at the requirements and managed to get 11 more done and 2 big projects that required more than 10 hours of work. She counted the garden they grew this summer and canning. Thus she was able to throw a lot of pie! Even 2 pizza pies for the large projects. See the youtube video HERE

The pizza pies didn't smash so well but it was the experience that counts. Those laurels were sure gracious about the whole experience.

I was really proud of her getting so much done, mostly on her own initiative. However, I am more thankful for the kind, thoughtful young lady she is becoming. She is kind, she mostly makes good choices, and she is happy a good part of the time. I think the best part of motherhood is watching- because really it's not our choice- who our kids become. A wise mom told me a while ago kids talents are the things you can't keep them away from. They just gravitate towards them. I am continually thankful of how much softer Anna is than me and how pleasant she is to have in our home. She is a great young lady!

10.13.14 Family Photos

Just taken at random at home. The kids were so wiggly and happy. First picture always the best

Now we are getting bored or just taking advantage of siblings close by to poke or prod...

Although Milile was smiling and Alivia is finally looking up.

Now mom's turn

 

I didn't even notice him holding my arm until I got done. This is not my most openly affectionate child but he does need his mom. Kiddos are so funny how they show their love, personalities, and needs some need to be noticed and laughed at or tickled, some need a hug, some just need your undivided attention, some need to show their skills and share. It is a blessing and a hard thing to be the mom. Hard to apply the right language to the right kid to not get confused on who likes it what way.

A nice little brotherly love slug!

And one back to keep the power balance in tact. Ahh family!

10.9.10 Aquarium

Millie absolutely loves having everyone around. She was so delighted this day to have all the kids, minus Anna with her in the car for the entire day. I must admit I share Millie's happiness. It made me smile all morning to look in my rear view mirror and see the heads of my kiddos. I'm a lucky mom to have so many to love. 

We were headed on a field trip with Mark and Addie's class. Their enterprising teacher had opened the year with a unit on sharks. They were very knowledgeable and as a reward and hands-on learning experience they headed to a local aquarium. I had intended to take my kiddos there for over 2 years but between babies and morning sickness had not felt up to the excursion, so I was happy to volunteer as a chaperone. We all went because it sounded super cool!

Feeding the sharks and eels seaweed they got braver and put their hands in the water where the fish could actually get the seaweed.

Turns out it was very interesting. Our tour guide made the experience 10x better. He explained the fish and their habits, he gave the kids food to feed the fish- they were very leery of feeding sharks from their fingers but it worked out okay. I'm glad we waited for the school trip. Alone it would have been fast and frustrating to have spent that much money for such a quick experience after the long drive.

The biggest draw was the electric eel tank. The kids fed them seaweed and then spent about an hour intermittently petting the eels. The eels eventually came around flapping- almost high-fiving the kids. It was pretty exciting. The eels stingers were removed so it was a safe happy activity.

The iguana came out last. The kids were mesmerized by his scaly skin and his size. They were mostly brave in touching him, and some real courageous kids even tried to feed him some vegetables provided by the aquarium staff. All in all it was a fun educational opportunity and a great way to spend some time with my kiddos and their friends.

A tide pool replica complete with anemone, star fish, prawns etc.

10.8.14 Stay Picnic

A few weeks ago, heck maybe a month now, I really wanted to go on a picnic. My grandfather called together family picnics about every quarter of the year while I was growing up.-Found out since his passing that his grandfather loved family picnics too and would also call them together for outings.-  We would all hustle and get stuff found, packed, purchased or maybe made if we had time, and we would go to the hills. Usually around the Owyhee Dam. It was so nice to get away and relax. We would hike, whittle hot dog sticks, visit, skip stones, shoot, eat and eat and listen to stories. Some of my favorite memories are from those impromtu escapes from the norm.

My hard worker and photo bug. She is so good about willingly getting things done and sticking to the job at hand.

So having a break from canning and determined to make some pleasant memories in my children;s minds I wanted tot take them to someplace that had pine trees. Unfortunately, all I could think of were places approximately 2 hours away. That wouldn't work for our busy dad and mom that is always tired. My wise mother suggested a place my grandfather had planted about 30 years ago. I had forgotten all about it, but boy was I sure thankful for her insight.

Our beginning fire it got much bigger but was just perfect for cooking bacon sandwiches and beans my grandfathers favorite as he hated hot dogs. We also roasted hot dogs cuz we like them.

We worked at making some picnic food and excitedly packed up. I asked my boy scout to pack wood and kindling as a fire does not just take to big logs. He assured me we were set, but when we got hte dad loaded from work we realized his fire starting skills need more practice. We gathered more knidling and fuel from a stash of my grandfathers and headed to "the Ocean." Originally this had been an Orchard my grandfather planted but being little I could not pronounce that and called it the ocean. It was far more beautiful and peaceful than I remembered.

John has taken to reading like a fish to swimming and chose to skip a nap and lunch to read. He was not feeling well and ended up sick. Millie was happy to keep him company for a while.

The kids were so excited. I was thankul for pine trees wiht lots of pine needles and pine cones and even some convienient dry weeds. There aren't many weeds on that farm and I was so thankful that we found a few. The younger kids had a ball getting more and more fuel for the fire.

Being on the go all the time with objectives to accomplish it's hard to stop and slow down and just be and take note of breathing. We did manage that night to slow down, be safe, and enjoy time in a little garden of mosquitoes and fun.

We have been out of water for over 2 months when we went to this little oasis water was running in the ditches. I had forgotten about mosquitoes... my poor little girls were pin cushions for those pests. No Malaria or west nile to report so we survived.

My parents came and joined us for some smokey breathing and relaxing in the greenery. It was a perfect close to home evening. Sometimes the best things are right in front of us if we just get our minds clear enough to realize what we have. Best to you.

Obviously this was not my choice of eathing or resting spots for them. As the little girls are not so nimble but oh so willing to follow their example. No one was hurt- it was such a beautiful evening. Love fall in the Valley.