Journal #30

Out My Window:

A beautiful Fall day.  It is almost 80 degrees, the sun is shining, a gentle breeze is about.

Clothing Myself In: 

Work-out capri pants and the shirt I wore to Mass this morning.  I started to change and apparently got distracted in the middle.  Don't worry, I'll be sure to make myself presentable if I decide to go out in public.

Around the House:

I'm starting to feel the clutter.  I really need to go through and deep clean/trash a bunch of stuff sort and organize. . . probably every room in the house, but I just cannot catch a break!  I am busy from sun up to sun down with the regular house duties of cooking and cleaning and schooling.  Then our extra-curricular activities in the evenings and weekends more of the same - still the meals, cooking and cleaning and often school stuff to finish up or activities I promised the kids.  I need a good solid chunk of time to devote to this "project" for the next couple weeks and sadly I do not see it happening.  But that's just life these days.  Maybe if we get a little ahead we could take a day off school and the kids and I could tackle a room together.  That might be interesting.

The Baby:

I found Zipporah sleeping like this when I went in to wake her from her nap.  Babies can sleep in any position it seems.

She walks, she talks.  Well, ok, she is walking much more - and oh so proud of herself.  She honestly rarely crawls anymore.  But she still walks fairly carefully and falls some.  She talks. . . well, sometimes when she is worked up she will call for Mamamamama  or Dadadada and I'm pretty sure she knows what she is doing, but it is not a frequent thing.  She also says "hi" in response to someone greeting her - though not always.  She has an extensive passive vocabulary, though - as she is very perceptive and thus far can get what she wants with a mere cry or gesture, so why bother with words?  Plus, she is just perfecting her stride, so I imagine the words are next on her "to do" list.

She also went in for her 15-month-check (a few weeks late) and here are the stats:

Weight: 25lbs, 8 oz (75%)

Height: 31 & 1/4 inches (50%)

Head: 47 cm (75%)

So, she is no longer a "runt" and all is well again in the growth of dear Ms. Zipporah.

The Kids & Homeschooling:

Paul is going through a bit of a phase now.  School WAS so cool and now he is often "so tired" and just needs to "play a minute."  But fortunately he is so far ahead, I have no qualms about giving him a break.  He is 60% done with his Math - his favorite subject.  If he keeps up this pace he will finish it by the end of January.  I'm trying not to push him or hold him back. When it is done, if he wants more, I will find something else for him to do.  If he burns out and does not want to do more, I will give him a break.  He has earned it think.

Jacob continues to give me grief, but I think he is in a "growing up" phase and will soon come around.  Some days he surprises me.

Rebekah and Samuel keep plugging along, but I often have them do work in the evenings or on weekends as I spend most of my day helping Jacob and Paul.  They take it well, though.

Miriam continues to learn and grow, much like a flower in the wild.  I do not specifically work with her, but she has many educational toys (puzzles, pretend play, paper and pencil) that she employs throughout the day.  She counted animals on a page in a book this afternoon - up to 8, one-to-one correspondence.  That is impressive for a three-year-old in my opinion.  

All the school-aged kids are doing a "Marathon" as a challenge for school.  Basically I am logging their miles walked or time spent doing activities like swimming or biking (15 minutes of activity = 1 mile).  Once they get to 26.2 I will send their sheets in and they will get a t-shirt and their picture and name on the "wall of fame" and such.  It seems like a fun idea to make sure the kids are getting their exercise!  Rebekah has been really enjoying walking with me anyhow, so this is a great excuse for us to keep it up.

In the Kitchen:

I wanted to share a recipe that I have been making pretty-regularly, just for myself (as it contains entirely too many veggies for the rest of my family) and really enjoying.  I make a big pan and then eat on it for basically a week.  It is called Almost 5-Ingredient Pizza Spaghetti Pie.  I add mushrooms and black olives to mine, as well as more eggs - well and generally just more of everything, as the recipe says to bake it in an 8x8 pan, but my spaghetti squash usually over-flows that on its own, so I upgrade to the 13x9 pan.

Also, we made an octuple batch of cookies the other day.  I had just picked up this 16 quart stock pot on sale at Dillons (as I have been looking for one for a while) and it was perfect for the job.  We used a drill and a paint mixer to mix the dough. (I had purchased the paint mixer - for cooking purposes - after my dear hubby had broken my last four beaters trying to mix my natural peanut butter that I had let sit too long.)  It was a lot of fun.  We needed cookies for a party we were attending, for our family to enjoy, and some for the freezer.  Other than the annoyance of spending over two hours baking them, everything went well.

It took both of us at the end.  I needed both hands on the drill so Gordie held the bowl.

And you can see the bottom!  Thank God I was almost done baking at this point.  If we do a batch this big again I will probably freeze half the batter as that was a lot of cookies to manipulate in and out of the oven all evening!

Thinking About:

Money.  Spiritual growth.  The Sacrament of Marriage.  And trying to prepare for Advent!

Bringing Me Joy:

My children - and getting to spend the day home with them, learning and playing.  It is such a blessing.

Pictures to Share:

Rebekah, Zipporah, Miriam, and Samuel.  Zipporah was just smiling, but my camera is often too slow to catch it.

Still not quite a smile, but closer.

Gordie and I stopping to smile during the great cookie making process.