Out My Window:
It is a bit hot for October in my opinion - up in the 80's I think. We have not had our A/C on for the past couple of weeks and I was too stubborn to turn it on today, but I did turn the A/C fan on to circulate the air some, along with our ceiling fans.
Clothing Myself In:
Jeans, a "work-out shirt" - according to the category it was sorted in by the store (aka a dry-fit v-neck dark maroon/purply colored shirt that I use for dress - don't judge, ok, I like my "dress" clothes to hold up to "daily living") and bare feet now, but I had on my cute sandals for church - although this really was a "dress down" outfit for a Sunday Mass for me. But I knew I would be wrangling the kiddos alone and I was running short on time this morning.
Around the House:
My dear husband finally built me a VERY NICE shelf on my back porch. I only asked him to do that about four or five years ago (with very little reminding after the first year or so. . . not all projects get completed around here), so imagine my surprise to walk out and discover it actually done!! In any case, it lead to a little bit of rearranging and I am soon hoping to add some more hooks so we can have a proper "mud room" for shoes and coats. This is perfect because we had been keeping them by the front door, but that is silly since we park our cars in the back and always leave through the back door. The only catch is that the back porch is not heated, but we will still keep our socks inside, so if shoes and coats are a bit chilly, the kids can deal I figure - plus less snow dripping on my floor - win win!
Around the "digital house" I am feeling a little bit of guilt for such a break in blogging. Apparently the last time I did this type of journal was back in May. No wonder I only need to print my blog every two years. Oddly I took only about five pictures in September, too and that is very unlike me, but I'm sure I will make up for it during the winter holidays - as usual.
The Baby:
She walks now. . . although not all the time. She will now take 10-15 baby steps. And by that I mean teeny tiny steps. She is so funny. She is very caught up on not loosing her balance, but then once she thinks she might, she just falls down on her bum, no sweat. She is such a silly. I may be recalling wrong, but I would swear the other kids just tried a few shaking normal-sized steps in the beginning and then soon walked fairly "normal-sized" (for a one-year-old stride) steps right away. But Zipporah has proven time and again that she will do things the way she wants to do things!
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| Zipporah LOVES spaghetti, but she uses it like war paint so we have to strip her down to eat. |
At mealtimes I like to read books to the children. Zipporah knows this, so the second I start reading she will start bellowing and then look at me and laugh and giggle. Usually she stops after a bit, but oh it frustrates me sometimes! And she knows EXACTLY what she is doing.
Another of Zipporah's favorite games is to hand something to you. Then you can give it back and she will hand it again. She will play this back-and-forth bit for hours if you have the patience. Supposedly that is a sign of good communication skills for a baby I guess. That does not surprise me, as she is very aware of her place in the family - youngest of six and is much happier when her siblings are around, as compared to when they are absent.
The Homeschooling:
Things are going well for the kids thus far. We are actually on-target or even a little bit ahead. Paul has over half of his math done for the year. It really helps that he CONSTANTLY wants to "do schoolwork." I mean, ALL DAY LONG he asks to do more. Now, for Math and Phonics he does really well. Although he is equally eager for Science and Literature, he is not quite the natural in those. But he consistently keeps chugging away at it. Even handwriting does not phase him - he just plows through - and does a pretty good job, too!
Jacob complains he does not like reading, but he does really well in Phonics and when he finally sits down to read he only misses a few words. I think he often surprises himself how well he does. He also whines over Math, but mostly just because he does not like writing the answers. He can find them out fine, but he DESPISES writing. And getting him to actually write in his handwriting book?!?! That is PURE TORTURE for this poor little boy.
Samuel and Rebekah both REALLY REALLY like Spelling City for their spelling lessons. So much so that they are each about half way done in spelling right now - two months into the year. Generally they do ok working through their subjects alone, with the exception of composition and sometimes Math (if they have trouble with a new concept). We often work on composition on the weekends. This weekend Rebekah and I are working on her research paper! Hopefully we can get all the composition for both Samuel and Rebekah knocked out before Christmas so we can take the spring semester a little easier.
The Kids:
Rebekah is taking on more and responsibility and doing so most gracefully - thank God. She almost never tells me "no" or gives me attitude when I ask her to do almost anything - usually take care of one of her siblings in some fashion. She is eager to help me cook and clean. Often if I am cleaning or organizing, she will ask how she can help.
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| All the "big kids" (Rebekah, Samuel, Jacob, & Paul) helped build this "turtle." They were pretty proud of themselves. |
Samuel and Rebekah are both gaining more and more cooking skills all the time. They can both make waffles, Annie's mac and cheese, scrambled eggs, and pudding (from a box). I also employ them to do various tasks when I'm making the family meals - such as stir this, or flip those, or peel these potatoes!
Jacob is giving me a lot of attitude lately - most of it toward school, but also about some other simple things like brushing his teeth. Of course, in Jacob's defense he has always been a little more sensitive about some things and brushing his teeth is one of them. I just recently realized at our last dentist appointment (when I found out Jacob was going to need a ROOT CANAL) that he has been completely ignoring my command to brush his teeth at night and in the morning. Now I make a point of helping him myself or having one of the older children do so. I think he is getting better - at least he will attempt on his own, rather than just ignoring me.
Side Note: He did not end up having the root canal. It was necessary because the dentist had given him a filling the visit before, but it had fallen out and for some reason I had not taken him in to get it fixed again!! I had the appointment scheduled to get the filling fixed and everything, but for some reason I canceled it and never rescheduled - and for the life of me I cannot remember why now! In any case, the tooth in question was a baby tooth, so why they wanted to do a root canal in the first place is beyond me. But when they went to get started the concluded it was too far gone, so they just pulled the tooth and today they put a spacer in (a few weeks after - so it was all healed up) that should allow his permanent tooth to come in fine and reserve its space.
Anyhow, I spend most of my day in an effort to keep Jacob on the schoolwork train and oh my it can be exhausting and frustrating! Now, let me say first off, he does NOT have an excessive amount of work. If he gave me a good three hours, maybe four on days we do Science or Social Studies, that would be fine and he could easily have it done by lunch if he tried. Anyhow, I'm not big into bribes - although I will give a bead for a day's worth of school work completed (and 10 beads gets a prize from our box - which is mostly little lego sets and a few other crafty things), but I am also realistic. So while sort-of bribing (with the bead) I simultaneously give "consequences" such as if school work is not mostly completed (given to Mom's decision at that time), participation in after-school activities for that evening is prohibited. So for Jacob that means no Aikido on Tuesdays or Thursdays and no Boy Scouts on Mondays. This is fine as a motivator, but let me tell you, when he does not get his work done, not only does he feel punished, but so do I - punished as I paid for these activities and I REALLY want him THERE, not at home doing the school work he should have done all day! It can really be frustrating to say the least, but I just keep figured we need to press on and hopefully he will start to mature soon.
Paul is mostly his energetic excited self about everything - constantly asking questions and always having a comment to make. Lately he has taken to playing with Miriam and let me say they are quite a pair. Miriam imitates Paul and the two of them are a tiny tornado of disturbance. It does not help that Miriam is definitely in the throes of the threes - giving some attitude now and again and still crying and throwing fits rather than using words. Fortunately she can be reminded to use words and the fits/crying end shortly after. But Paul really gets on her nerves and I'm not sure if he is purposefully doing it or it is just the way he plays - very active and opinionated about how things go, but he causes her tears quite frequently. In any case, she is certainly learning to stand up for herself and for that I'm grateful.
In the Kitchen
I recently broke my crockpot while cleaning it. It slipped through my hands into the sink. God knows I've dropped it a million times - this must have been the final straw. In any case, I was about to buy another one when I read the reviews about ceramic pots leaching lead into your food?!?! While I would like to think it is just a scare, with so many things coming from China and their standards being different and all, well, I was torn as to what to do. Should I buy a "fancier" (aka more expensive crockpot) that is supposed to not leach lead from the glaze? Or should I just buy the cheap crock that I've been using for years anyhow and not worry about it? Well, I asked the question of my online motherhood group and they suggested I get a pressure cooker instead as it can be used a slow cooker AND as a pressure cooker, obviously, AND it has a stainless steel tub. Problem solved! Unfortunately it is about four times as expensive, but. . . after some deliberation (and the fact that I had some cashback bonus from our credit card built up) I took the plunge. I settled on this "instant pot" from amazon. It has been AWESOME. This thing cooks stuff SO FAST and SO WELL!!
For my first dish I steamed potatoes in 15 minutes (well, more like 20, as it had to get up to pressure first) and then made soup with the "soup" button in 25 minutes and it was SO GOOD! The next day I made steamed apples with cinnamon and sugar - the kids LOVED those. And I finished out the weekend with chili, slow-cooker style. It was perfect. I am eager to put in some roast tomorrow, using the traditional slow-cooker-style and then slowly build my pressure-cooker recipes.
Thinking about:
Prayer. Praying with the children. Praying with my husband. My own prayer life. Pray, pray, pray!
Bringing me joy:
My new "toy" for the kitchen (as mentioned above), Aikido, long runs on nice days, watching BBC Sherlock and Bones with my hubby.
Pictures to share:
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| Nana had brought back crowns for the girls from a retreat she went on. She requested a picture. This was the best I could do. Yeah, I think I failed, too, but maybe we can try again another time. |
