I think he should paint his face orange

and go as a jack-o-lantern for Halloween. but he won't do it-killjoy.

So how is your food storage?

Just wondering...

"I Am" Poems

e.e. cummings they aren't

Written by #1

I am tough but I can be gentle.
I wonder what the future is.
I hear gun shots!
I see war fair.
I want a Wii game.
I am tough but I can be gentle.

I pretend I am a soldier.
I feel sad.
I touch the cold steel of tanks.
I worry if the soldiers will come home.
I cry.
I am tough but I can be gentle.

I understand that war isn' fair.
I say "NUKE 'EM!"
I dream when there will be peace.
I try to be a soldier when I am old enough.
I hope that the Germans do not start World War III.
I am tough but I can be gentle.

#2's

I am a lego maniac who likes white bread.
I wonders about some books?
I hear blaster fire!
I see a clone trooper!
I want to play Wii.
I am a lego maniac who likes white bread.

I pretend to do nothing.
I feel mad.
I touch a blaster.
I worry about #3.
I cry war cries.
I am a lego maniac who likes white bread.

I understand math problems.
I say LEGOS!
I dream weapons.
I try to do good.
I hope for peace.
I am a lego maniac who likes white bread.

I actually think #1's has some potential with some editing-this was their first shot at poetry writing.

So who is taller?

DH is holding the phone but #1 has more hair-but he doesn't have bed head. Right shoulders-#1 looks a smidge taller than DH. DH is in denial but I think #1 is passing him up.

A Question from #5

"Mom? Is today Freesday?"

translation: "Mom? Is today threesday?"

you know, because yesterday was Twosday.

I love it when they are obsessed with counting.

School organizing would be much easier IF

the babies would leave the dots on the books.

An explanation--Sonlight is our curriculum and has been for a few years. It is a literature rich curriculum. That means many, many books. Each level has readers, read alouds, science books, history books, and even more tossed in for fun. To keep the books organized the company sends sticky paper that you can cut out dots or squares to stick onto the spine of the books. Each core (or different grade level) has a different color. It works very well WHEN the girls don't peel the stickers off the spines of the books.

The result? The start of school is delayed and I have to scan all 10 bookcases looking for the books I need. very.time.consuming.and.tiring. Today I am scotch taping all the dots on so maybe, just maybe, those little girl fingers won't peel off the dots. And I won't have to repeat this again.

A Chat with the Teenager

It went something like this:
Mom: I like children that do their work. I like children that don't complain and cause problems with their siblings.
#1: Ah, okay.
Mom: You have an assignment. I want a list of 25 things you are grateful for.
#1: Okay.

The conversation was a little more intense than that but I am preserving his privacy just a little bit.

Here is the list:
1. I am thankful for books
2. video games
3. legos
4. Scouts
5. Electricity
6. Friends
7. food
8. Water
9. Air
10. A home
11. clothes
12. wood
13. mom and dad
14. church
15. Sunday school
16. medicine
17. snow
18. family
19. science
20. the world
21. a government
22. money
23. a prophet
24. animals
25. school

Did you notice that DH and I came in at #13? and school at #25? giggle

Calling all you homeschool mommies-question

Ring Ring

Ring Ring

If you have five students to teach and not all of them are willing (but able) to follow a list of assignments to complete, what consequences do you use when they don't complete their assignments?

I am logistically attempting to figure out this school year and it is looking crazy. I have Sonlight Core 6 for #1,2, and 3 (but different readers for #3), Core K for #4 and 5. While I am doing school with the littles the olders have enough time to get their bookwork done. But will they? in the past, nope. I don't have time to mess around with their lackidaisical ways this year and they need to just get it done. What do you recommend?

Did I mention that my DH just bought 5.63 acres of allergens?

His hayfever was bothering him a few weeks ago and he finally decided to get allergy tested. He thought it was ragweed. Turns out it is grass and trees and cats and feathers and dustmites.

Good-bye to our 3 cats and my beloved down comforter.


wahhhhh

so I am making wool blanket quilts. I have been thrift store shopping and picking up wool blankets as I find them along with flannel sheets. I like wool blankets but DH doesn't like the itchy aspect. So I am sandwiching the wool blanket with flannel sheets, tying them with wool yarn. They should be soft and cozy and very warm. I have already made 4 for the boys. I get to do mine and DH's next. I just have to buy another blanket for him. (We have for a few years been sleeping each with our own blankets cause we both like to cocoon up in them and no one ends up with cold toes. We have a bedspread/quilt that goes over both blankets and it looks just fine.)

DH is considering allergy shots. Poor sniffly guy.

AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I know I am not the only woman that makes that sound when it comes to laundry. At the old house we had all the child clothes in the room with the washers and dryers. (Yes-plural.) Now in the new house we have A washer and A dryer in the upstairs laundry closet. Can I just say WHO are these people who design such sucky laundry and kitchen set-ups? They must be people who never cook or do laundry. (cough:men:cough)

Sooooo, because we got rid of all the dressers to be able to fit into the last house we now have no dressers in the new house. (We couldn't fit the dressers and all the beds in the bedrooms so we made a family closet in the laundry room in the basement.) Sooooooo, now I have to figure out how in the heck to sort the laundry and store it.



AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

so everything is going on hangers and I am cutting everyone down to 4-5 outfits and only one towel per person, all white. All extra towels are going into storage with the pool things.

#6 is still breast feeding

She is after all the last one. I nursed #1 and 2 until 2 1/2 or so. She is down to a morning and evening nursing.

Have I ever mentioned the funny nursing story about #1? He was such a wiggler. We finally just got to the point we would put him to bed without nursing him, wait until he was asleep an hour or so and then nurse him because he would just get down to business and not climb on top of my head while trying to snack. Anyway, one night DH brought him in all sleepy and just as DH was putting him on the bed #1 says, "MMMMMMmmmMAMA!" That kid knew he was getting some milk and was excited about it.

When I was on bedrest last year I got nightgowns. They are sorta grannyish but when I had a 10 pound baby with an extra gallon and a half of amniotic fluid in my abdominal cavity anything with a waistband just hurt to wear. It hurt. So I have a couple nightgowns that have a placket opening with 5 buttons that I normally just keep the top button buttoned. #6 tonight got on my lap grabbed both sides of the placket pulled with all her might, popped the button of my nightgown, looked in at my breasts and yelled, "YAH!"

I think it was Mark Gungor that said breastfeeding is turning an erogenous zone into public utilities. Oh, so true.

I turned 40 last week

If we hadn't of moved I would have thrown a big party. Maybe then I would have gotten a birthday cake.

The boys did very well. They made me eggs benedict for breakfast. It was delicious. Probably one of the best presents ever for a woman in my stage of life was given to me. Can you guess??

No gemstone involved. No fur. No masseur.

I received a keypad locking doorknob for my bedroom. You know one of those ones that your type in the code and it opens.

No more red nailpolish incidents at our house.

Well, what did I do on my birthday? I went on a field trip with the family and picked pears. It was a good day.

I have been in a bit of a funk lately. I am not sure why. I am NOT upset to be forty and it truly doesn't bother me because I would much rather be 40 than 20. I know I have many, many productive years ahead of me. I have finally realized that this is it. Those little kids are growing up and it will pass my by if I don't take time to twirl with the girls or jump on the trampoline with them. (but if I do that anymore I need a better bra-steel plated so I don't knock myself senseless) I found myself really wondering if what I have done has even made a difference in the world. Have I mattered? And raising kids somedays you really wonder. The continual selflessness and sleep deprivation and whining that surrounds me gets to me somedays. I really do wish sometimes that someone would just bake the cake I want and make sure that the dinner includes avocado and bleu cheese. I wonder if it will be worth it or will I be lost in the constant giving?

Harvest Season and the M.O.M.

hear the tired sigh, tired but satisfied sigh

I don't know what happened this year but all the trees around us are producing pears, crab apples, apples, hickory nuts, walnuts and whatever else I haven't seen yet. I was driving down our little dirt road and noticed that my neighbor has pear trees. They were loaded with nice pears. I went over and introduced myself and asked if we could have the pears. She willingly let me have them and I started picking-8 bushels of pears. Then we noticed on the way back to our house the hickory trees are bearing nuts this year. And the walnuts. And the crabapple trees are loaded with fruit and the apple trees. Whoa!

Right now crabapples are in my steam juicer making the house smell all apple-ly. I made some syrup and the family gobbled it all up on whole wheat pancakes-crabapple syrup yumilicious. The pears are in the mudroom ripening. I have been doing research on pear recipes and I think we are definitely going to try gingerbread pancakes with pear sauce for breakfast next week.

On the child front....I have a 3 1/2 year old girl that is willing to come to your house and destroy it. All of our children have gone through chemist phases. No one has topped #1 yet but she is sure trying her darndest. #1 at this age put Hershey's syrup under the couch cushions and green tempera paint. #5 got into our room and emptied out all the lubricant all over our nightstand and floor. Then colored the walls. What is it about girls and coloring on the walls?? NONE of the boys did this. More than one horizontal surface in my house has her marks. I came home Saturday to find red nail polish up to the second knuckle on each finger and all her toes were done too-all the toe-not just the nail. DH just looked at me sheepishly and said, "I don't know how she got hold of it!" She is certainly living up to her Mistress of Mess title (M.O.M.). I am just thankful the M.O.D. seems to be taking a break (Master of Disaster, aka #4).