Duckygirl's Recipe For Happiness

Introducing

2012-02-13T03:37:00.000-08:00

Our sweet Mabel Jane

Born on February 12, 2012
7 lbs 9 oz
19 inches long

Welcome to the world little girl, we love you!

Random update in bullet points

2012-02-02T07:39:00.000-08:00

Wow. Life has been eventful (crazy even?) these past few weeks, with no sign of slowing down.

The kids have been passing around the typical wintertime sicknesses, colds, fevers etc. Ian kept feeling ill too and the dr finally diagnosed what has been bothering him. So, yesterday he went into surgery and had his gall bladder removed! He seems to be recovering nicely but is just super tired.
Theo (who will be 14 mos next week) has learned to crawl down the stairs after a couple of months of knowing how to go up and getting himself stuck there. He also cut his first tooth. All of my other kiddos got teeth around 9-10 months so he is a bit slower on that.
I'm now 38.5 weeks along with baby #10 being due in just a mere 12 days!! Since Ian is in recovery mode I sure hope she gives him plenty of time. I think this is the first pregnancy where I am NOT feeling anxious to 'just have the baby already'. :P Don't get me wrong, I'm really excited about her arrival I'm just content with it coming in another week to two weeks. :)
A couple ladies are throwing me a baby shower this Saturday, Stephen turns 9 on Sunday & February 12th is our 12th wedding anniversary.

Through ALL of that we have been surrounded by SO much support from friends, church family, neighbors, co-workers etc., it's been a huge blessing. Thank you so much to all who have helped with meals, cleaning, childcare or helping by being a shoulder to lean on.

You all have been the body of Christ indeed. :)

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
1 Corinthians 12:26-28

One month

2012-01-21T07:02:00.000-08:00

Most of the time if I think about not seeing my kids it's measured in hours or days and I miss them intensely while we're apart. Now though, I'm faced with the realization that it's been an entire month.

A month.

How can this be??

One month since I've held his little hand.

Since I've heard his sweet voice and fun little giggle.

One month since I've run my fingers through his thick blonde hair....

I know that there are going to be SO many milestones or 'firsts' down this road, but knowing they are coming doesn't make any of them easier.

We miss you So much Josiah!

Psalm 142:5
I cry to you, O LORD; I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”

Learning

2012-01-02T06:30:00.000-08:00

Learning to navigate this huge sea of emotions I have.

Learning that I can have a big ole' huge cry and then get up and be somewhat functional.

Learning that grief is appearing differently in each of the children, each in their own time and all of that is okay.

Learning, learning, learning....I am the student He is the teacher.

2011-12-25T08:05:00.000-08:00

Josiah Courage "Joe" Sims age 4 of Towanda, IL passed away at 8:22am on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at St. Joseph Medical Center, Bloomington, IL. A memorial service will be held at 7:00 pm Friday December 30th at Christ Church PCA. (1301 North Linden, Normal, IL 61761) Pastor Bob Smart and Pastor David Keithley will officiate.

The family will receive friends following the memorial service at the church on Friday.

The family encourages support of a child through Compassion International or a monetary gift to that ministry in memory of Joe.

Josiah Courage Sims

2011-12-22T09:15:00.000-08:00

Josiah started having stomach pains on Monday and we assumed that he had a flu that had been running through our house. However, it seemed to be affecting Josiah worse than anyone else. On Tuesday afternoon he was still having a lot of pain in his belly and throwing up. We took him to the doctor that afternoon. The doctor naturally thought that he had a 3 day flu that has been going around in our area. Tuesday evening Josiah was still in pain and throwing up despite the anti-nausea medicine that the doctor had given. On Wednesday morning we were getting ready to take him to the doctor again when he very suddenly just stopped breathing. By the time the ambulance came he was already gone.

It was determined after the fact that Josiah had a congenital defect known as Meckel's diverticulum. Josiah had a complication as a result of this condition that involved a blockage of the small intenstine. The complication was probably the result of a viral infection.

Our family is deeply shocked by this loss, but we know that God has some good purpose in mind. We are comforted knowing that Josiah is with Jesus who is our only hope. We miss Josiah intensley, but it is mixed with the absolute hope that though he cannot come to us now, we will one day go to him.

We will be communicating plans for the memorial service in the near future. Thank you for all of the support we have recieved.

Writing with prompts is actually keeping me blogging! :o)

2011-12-17T05:57:00.000-08:00

December 16th
Volunteer: Did you volunteer anywhere this year? Did you learn something in the process? Would you volunteer in 2012? If you don’t, why don’t you?

My oldest daughter and I volunteer in the nursery at our church, which usually ends up being once every 5-6 week or so. I enjoy little ones so it's not a tough job. :O) I'm not sure if we'll continue once the baby is born. I will be a bit more limited on just how much help I'd be. :P

December 17th
Ordinary Joy: How have you experienced ordinary joy this year?

Joy. That would have to be from my kiddos. Watching them play, learn and just enjoy life. The funny things they do or say (a lot of which I post on Facebook!). All of that brings me joy. Watching Theo this year go from a newborn to crawling to walking...now almost running! His little laugh and slight roar that he makes when he's happy. Kathleen learning to talk more and all of us getting to witness her sweet personality emerge....

I could go on and on. :O) I'm a blessed gal to have all these little people to bring me joy. It's truly wonderful. (not EVERY moment obviously but most!)

Day 13 thru 15

2011-12-15T05:56:00.000-08:00

December 13th

Splurge: Did you splurge on something this year? Did the troubled economy prompt you to hold back, or did you just give it all for something?

Yes! We have never, ever, ever owned a new vehicle. I don't think we've even owned one less than 10 years old....until this year. I would venture to guess that the biggest stress in the past few years was due to vehicles needing repairs. So, we bit the bullet and bought a fantastic and GIANT 15 passenger van. I absolutely love it and have had no regrets. And no stress.

December 14th

Jobs: Did you change jobs in 2011? What did you do? Did you change careers? If you didn’t, did you do something that made you proud in your work? Do you plan to make a change in 2012?

I am first and foremost a wife and mother. That is my main job in life and I enjoy it thoroughly.

In the past year though I have added the title business owner to my life. I'm now known as 'the lady in {insert my small town name} with a whole bunch of kids who runs a curriculum shop out of her home'. It's amazing to hear the word spread and how the Lord has helped me to go from just an idea to where we are now. I'm truly a blessed gal.

December 15th

Things: Many people believe that things are not important, so whether things or something more grand, what are the three most important things in your life right now?

I feel like there should be two answers to this question. The first being the obvious, serious and true answer:

1)The Lord

2) My husband

3) My kids

The second being three things literally referring to 'stuff'

1) My stretchy yoga pants.

During every pregnancy I spend way too much time readjusting/pulling up my maternity pants because they just refuse to stay where they are supposed to. My yoga pants though? They fit perfectly, I just wish they were presentable enough to wear out of the house.

2) Coffee.

It's an addiction. One I freely admit and I'm not concerned even one bit about.

3) My kitchen aid mixer.

I use it ALL.THE.TIME. I'm not sure how I lived without it. I am dreaming/drooling over the bigger Bosch though....

Writing with prompts

2011-12-13T08:12:00.000-08:00

Just like Sarah, I've been in a bit of a blogging funk (you noticed, didn't you?). Which just makes blogging with writing prompts perfect for me right now.

Since I'm also a couple of weeks late to jump on this train I have a lot to write about today...so here goes:

December 1: Memory
What's the first thing you remember about 2011? What stands out in your head?

My fabulous cousin Ressa came and stayed a week with us. We took a trip up to the Chicago Aquarium which was fun, but I think I enjoyed the relaxing days of playing bananagrams much better! :)

December 2: Make
This is a two pronged prompt! What did you enjoy making this year? Did you "make the Dean's list"? Or maybe you made a really good wine, or maybe you made some furniture. And, what do you look forward to making during the holidays? Cookies? Homemade gifts?

Hmm, I really enjoyed making a nice hot cup of coffee every morning...but that answer sounds cheesy. I did make our Halloween costumes (the crayons in the header picture). I really do like to make our costumes every year and I'm hoping the kids will give me a couple more years before they're 'too old' for family costume themes. I try to do a little bit of baking each Christmas season, usually Rocky Road or chocolate dipped pretzels maybe even sugar cookies or gingerbread men. I don't really plan it out though, I'm more of a 'hey lets make cookies today' kinda gal.

December 3: Book
What was your favorite book you read this year? Was it for school or work? Or, was it for fun? And how did you read it? On your Nook or your Kindle? Or, do you still enjoy reading on an actual, physical book? Why did you like it?

Without a doubt Unbroken was the best book of the year. Other than school books with the kids it may actually have been the ONLY book I read this year. If you haven't read it I highly recommend it. I read it as a real actual book because I checked it out from the library. I like to read on the kindle when they are free...oh there was another, I read Uncle Tom's Cabin! It was free on the kindle.

December 4: Miracle
Do you feel you experienced or witnessed miracle this year? How so?

Seeing our babies little heartbeat during an ultrasound. Little baby movements and kicks....It doesn't matter that this is baby #10, it's a miracle EVERY time and never gets old.

December 5: Songs
By now many radio stations are playing Christmas and other holiday songs. What is one of your favorite holiday songs?

I'm really bad at trying to name songs let alone who sings them. I do like Carol of the Bells and Jingle Bell Rock is always a fun one to dance around the kitchen with the kids to. I think my favorites this year have to be any that my daughter has learned to play on the piano. It's neat to hear them played in your house rather than over the radio. The kids even practiced Jingle Bells together (Amanda on piano, Kenny on drums & Stephen on guitar). That was pretty cool.

December 6: People
Who did you meet in 2011? Who do you want to meet in 2012?

Sadly, I cannot think of a single new person that I've met this year. I'm sure that there were a few new ladies I met through the mom's group I go to, maybe? Next year I'm looking forward to 'meeting' our new little girl in February. Also, and this probably won't happen. But I'd love to meet Michelle Duggar. She's scheduled to be the key speaker at the Hearts at Home conference here in our town in March. I'm not even sure if I'll be able to attend, but if I could go it would be neat to get to meet her.

December 7: Quit
Did you quit something this year?

I quit drinking diet coke on a daily basis. Basically, I just quit buying it to have at home. I still drink it occasionally when we go out to eat. I'm not even sure why I did this? It sort of just happened.

December 8: Goodbye
Did you have to say goodbye to someone in 2011? Did they move away or did you lose them unexpectedly? How did you react? What would you say to them now if they could hear you or read your message?

At the end of October we said goodbye to some good friends (Jon & Renee) as they moved back to Washington state (from PA). Hopefully we'll find a way to get to see them again in the next year or so since they too are expecting a little one in February (their first baby!).

December 9: Travel
Where did you travel in 2011? Who did you travel with? What did you learn while you were there? Where do you hope to visit in 2012?

We took a trip to Pennsylvania, to Jon & Renee's wedding. We also got the chance while we were there to tour Washington D.C. with a couple of Jon's brothers. I'd say we learned that friends really can be like family...but I think we already knew that. I'd love to get to go on a vacation in 2012, to anywhere really, but I'm not sure if that'll happen?

December 10th: Television
Which television shows, series, program or otherwise did you discover this year? What resonated with you? Did you finally start watching "Modern Family"? Or, maybe you followed Oprah to her new network? Whatever it is you stumbled across, tell us about it.

Almost all of our tv comes through Netflix. I think my favorite of the year would be Psych. It's funny. Or maybe Mad Men, that was a pretty good one but I'm waiting for new episodes.

December 11: Without
What can you do without in 2012? What did you feel was holding you down this year? Was it a job? A relationship? Or, could it be something really simple - like an outfit that just went out of style.

I could really do without a few pounds. After baby is born I'd really like to get more serious about getting back into shape (even though I'm told round IS a shape). I can think of more than a few people who will be great inspiration for me (Emily, Sarah, Amy....)

December 12: Fear
What were you afraid of in 2011? How did you let fear control you? What will you do to confront it in 2012?

I'm not sure if this qualifies as a fear, maybe more of an anxiety...but telling people about my business? Stepping out of my comfort zone and advertising (at a curriculum sale or word of mouth). Starting a business is something I've wanted to do for a long time, but actually doing it? Nerve wracking. Next year I hope to continue growing it and I do entertain the possibility of moving it into a retail space instead of out of our house. Even branching into future goals of kids clothing resale along with the books. Aaaah. See it makes me feel nervous just typing that. I don't want people to think I'm crazy for attempting it and I don't want to fail. Yep. Fear.

Until tomorrow, I think that about catches me up!

Encouragement

2011-12-06T08:03:00.000-08:00

I love hearing about large families when it's portrayed in such a great way. It makes me SO sad when I read negative comments (mainly about the Duggars).

If you do too then you'll enjoy this article: http://bangordailynews.com/2011/12/04/living/winterport-siblings-recall-the-blessings-of-being-among-17-children/

Also.... that little ticker on the right shows that I'm 30 weeks today!!! With the holidays and a few birthdays coming up in our family I'm sure these last 10 weeks or so are going to just speed by, eek! :O)

My little Crayons

2011-10-17T09:28:00.000-07:00

For Halloween we really love to put together family theme costumes. My husband heard about a local campground that hosts trick or treating mid-October, so we decided to get things ready and go! We had a few friends that went with us too (that aren't pictured). They went along with the theme as coloring pages, a paint brush (her hair was the brush!) and a painters palette.

Here's a group shot of our family...

P.s. I realize many of you already saw this on Facebook, but I wanted it here for my own reasons :O)

Bitten by the craft bug

2011-10-04T11:08:00.000-07:00

Most of my days are so filled with the ordinary obligations that I don't often get inspired to many 'extra' things. This week, however, I had an itch to do something crafty.

I started off by making this FALL sign for my shelf,

and then Amanda and I had a TON of fun making different scarves out of old t-shirts!

2011-09-27T17:15:00.000-07:00

We went in for our 20 week ultrasound today....

It's

A

GIRL!!!!

I was certain that we were going to have a boy, but being wrong is good too. I'm beyond excited!! :O)

Breaking the silence

2011-09-15T12:44:00.000-07:00

The last month has zipped by packed with lots of activity!

We repainted our dining room and installed new flooring. Ian built a nice big table and new (much sturdier) benches! Isn't it pretty?

Amanda turned 11 and had the privilege of getting her ears pierced.

Leenie (Kathleen) turned 2 and is just as adorable as ever....yes, I am biased just a wee bit.

Aaaaand, we hosted our 2nd annual Sims Birthday Bash! Essentially this is one big 'ole birthday party a year instead of hosting a friend party for each of the kids on their individual birthday's. It was perfect weather this year and we had a blast. I do believe that the kids' favorite activity was the face painting.

Ian seemed to like roasting the pig! It turned out SO yummy.

I've come to the realization though that I should not try and be the host and photographer. We simply didn't get enough photos to document the day because I was too busy! :P

Lets see....we also started back to full time school work and extra curricular activities like music lessons, band, AWANA, & a science co-op.

I'm 18 weeks along with baby #10 and feeling pretty good. We go in for a sonogram in a couple of weeks to get a peek and hopefully get to find out baby's gender. : )

Unintended hiatus

2011-08-15T12:01:00.000-07:00

Between home school, house work & pregnancy I feel like just living daily life is sucking up any brain power I have at the moment.

Things here are going well, I just can't seem to put any sort of coherent thoughts down about it.

Snipets

2011-07-27T05:37:00.000-07:00

~My two oldest kids have joined a local home school band (of like 9) and seem to enjoy it quite a bit. It's encouraging to see them excited about practicing for something.

~ We enjoyed a visit from great friends. It's amazing how the Lord orchestrates to bring people together (even through the internet)!

~Kenny (the oldest boy) has been able to read for years but hasn't really liked it. However, over the past week he's had his nose stuck in a book. What book caught his attention? Little Pilgrim's Progress. I couldn't be happier with his choice! :O)

~Kathleen (almost two) is starting to talk a lot more. I was lying on the couch the other morning, she climbed up, laid down next to me and said, "cuddle". SO SWEET!

Another birthday post.....

2011-07-24T06:37:00.000-07:00

Jessica turns 7

2011-07-14T05:44:00.000-07:00

It seems like the older my kids get the more incredulous I feel about birthdays.

In my head I'm thinking, "SEVEN? WHO TOLD YOU, YOU COULD TURN SEVEN!!"

*sigh* no matter how I feel about them growing up though, it still happens.

When you are a procrastinator/forgetful like me you end up having to improvise a lot (and I mean A LOT). Like having to use matches in place of candles.... :O)

Thankfully, my kids are pretty used to this sort of thing so it didn't phase her at all!

Happy Birthday my sweet Jessica!

7 months

2011-07-11T12:24:00.000-07:00

All of you are so smart and figured out that the common theme in my last post was 10. As in, yes I'm now expecting baby number 10!!! Double digits. Wow. We are excited. :O)

In all the talk of another baby we must not let any of the other kiddos fade into the background!

I believe Theophilus (Theo) is determined to to be a boy all his own in this family.

Here he is at 7 months old now.

He's sitting up, laughing (he's SUPER ticklish!)

AND CRAWLING!!! He is by far the earliest crawler in our family, the average before him was 8-9 months old and he's crawled for about a month already~ I really wasn't prepared for that so soon!

He's a really laid back, content guy.....I couldn't love him more!

Can you find the common theme?

2011-06-30T05:30:00.000-07:00

I'm in awe.

2011-06-20T06:58:00.000-07:00

Wow.

I asked you all to pray and I just want to say thank you! I am not sure if the day could have gone any better.

I went down to the church Friday to drop off a few books that I was selling for a friend. When I got there I asked the lady that was in charge if it would be okay if I left a few flyers on the checkout table. She was soooo nice and said, "we can do better than that, I'll just put one in each bag as people pay." WooooHoooo! We went on to chat a bit and they asked if I'd be willing to help out first thing Saturday morning. They sweetened the deal by telling me that if I worked I'd be able to shop an hour early along with all the other volunteers. This was really good as I was able to get the math curriculum I needed for my kiddos for a great price!

Anyway, I had a lot of fun meeting new people and talking home school curriculum all while networking for the business. It was a good day.

Just since Saturday I've been contacted three times from ladies either wanting to buy something or bring books in to sell!

Now I wait and see if I get any more calls. :)

Tomorrow

2011-06-17T06:02:00.000-07:00

There is a local group of homeschoolers that are putting on a used curriculum sale tomorrow.

I have a list of items I hope to find and buy for next year.

I'm bringing a few books of my own to try and sell and several for a friend of mine.

BUT (there's always a but, right?)

I also want to use this as an opportunity to do some networking for my business. I'll bring a stack of business cards and some flyers to hand out.

Just typing that makes my stomach churn.

I'm SO nervous.

Interacting with people sounds easy and fun but I don't want to come across as pushy with the business. I just want to inform people that I've started this venture and let them know I exist.

Would you pray for me? :O)

Summertime has arrived

2011-06-08T05:49:00.000-07:00

We had some good friends come from out of town to stay a week with us.

I had been thinking that the boys needed their hair buzzed for summer and Renee volunteered. She did a wonderful job and gave each of the boys a fun mohawk. (It won't stay that way long, it's just fun for a couple weeks)

Ian brought home a new roll of plastic and the kids promptly put the slip and slide to good use! I didn't take a very great picture of this....it starts with this 5 foot ramp and goes all down the yard. :O)

Here Renee and I are cooking up a bunch of Turkish pizzas...so yummy!!

There's always someone play fighting or wrestling around here....

Kathleen is at such a fun age right now! She is just a sweetie pie.

Boys all lined up being bounced on the trampoline by their daddy.

We've also been eating watermelon, splashing in the pond, riding bikes...you know all the fun stuff. :O)

{this moment}

2011-05-20T07:29:00.000-07:00

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week (mine's from a couple weeks ago...oops). A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, visit SouleMama.

........................

Why there is no 'Answers Part Two'

2011-05-17T08:26:00.000-07:00

Okay, so there isn't going to be part two...

Mainly because by the end of the first post I'd answered most of the questions and somewhat because I just ran out of steam. :O)

I do still plan to put up a 'day in the life' type post (soon, please bear with me)

Right now my mind seems to be pretty 'me' focused. I don't like to focus on myself much but my health/weight needs my attention at this point in time.

I go through this roller coaster with my weight. It's up when I'm pregnant then downhill when I'm not...then up again...well, you get the picture.

In July this year I'm having a pretty significant birthday (number wise) and I'm noticing that the whole downhill process of losing weight is just a wee bit harder this time. So, I'm taking inspiration from this wonderful lady and trying to get my tushie in gear. I've gotten up three days in a row and dragged myself down to the gym to workout (at 5 a.m.!). I know, I know three whole days doesn't seem like a lot (and it's not) but I've started and that counts for something, right?

Answers Part One

2011-05-03T06:16:00.000-07:00

Thank you for all the questions!! Answering them should be fun.

I too, like the idea of doing a 'typical day in the life of' type post. I'll try to snap some pictures through out a day and try to give a real life perspective for you. :O)

Shelby asked quite a few questions (Yay!)...so I'll just start right in from the beginning.

My girls are constantly "ransacking" toys in the basement, which is where I have all their play toys not in rooms or other parts of the house. How do you keep your house from getting tore up?

Short answer: I don't.

Long answer:

I'm just going to tell you that if you dropped by unannounced, I'd open the door and you'd see toys, school books, games, etc. I think with little kids it's bound to happen. I'm a pretty laid back person so this kind of thing just doesn't stress me out. I'm fortunate to have married a guy who likes things clean, he keeps my messy tendencies in check. :O) A couple of times a day we do clean-up, with the major one being right before hubs comes home from work. The kids split up into groups of two and we tackle zones (kitchen/dining/living room). Now, all that said....we also do not own massive amounts of toys. When we moved from Washington to Illinois we pared down...like WAY down. It really taught me that we can live without so much. Kids will still play and be happy. We've accumulated back 'stuff' but I try really hard to make sure that we get rid of things on a regular basis. (Also, if we plan to have you over we make sure it's clean...I'm not that slobby!)

How do you do the grocery store with all 9?

Well, sometimes you do what you gotta do. It's not the ideal scenario in my mind. Sometimes I try to arrange to go when Ian's here in the evening, but I really dislike using family time for errands. Practically speaking though, I push/pull two carts. One that holds the little kiddos and one for food. I try to shop at places that also have the carts that hold the most kids ;) (Sam's club is great!)

What time do they go to bed and get up in the morning?

From the very first child until now, bedtime has always started at 7:00 p.m. For the ones 6 & under that means, lights out, time to sleep. The older ones are allowed to read quietly on their beds for a bit and occasionally they are allowed to stay up and spend some time with their daddy. That happens mostly on nights when he's come home later from work. This saves my sanity because they ALL get up at 6:30 when daddy's alarm goes off, which is fine by me because I'm one of those weird people who happens to like mornings.

Potty training a stubborn child?

Consistency & patience. Keep at it. It's not fun but one day they will get it, I promise. (a 'lil bribery sometimes helps too....)

How many more children do you guys want and have you always wanted a lot?

This is a topic I could get all 'up on my soapbox' about the why we or anybody choose to have a lot of kids...but I'll refrain. Shortly after we had our first we found out we were expecting our second. I can honestly say we hadn't really even discussed the 'how many' question until then. We knew we wanted children (plural) but when we sat down and talked about it we realized that we just liked having kids. Each time after another one was born we kinda had the 'are we done now' talk and each time it's been...nope. Sadly I think back and see that we may have had a legalistic perspective but at some point that's just changed into a genuine belief that kids truly are a blessing. I love my kids and I'd love to have more of them...how many more? I'm not sure.

When you make meals do you have any really picky eaters? I have always read and heard to make one meal and that is it, if they don't eat then wait until the next meal time?

Yes....ME! I've always been a pretty picky eater and I blame my parents (HA! Not really...). A few of my kids are picky, but I try not to cater to that. All the kids know the slogan “you get what you get and you don't throw a fit”. I only make one meal and if they choose not to eat it then yes, they wait to eat until the next meal. With that said though, I make pretty kid friendly food. You won't see me struggling to get my kids to eat eggplant parmesan because, I just wouldn't make it. They eat vegetables like corn, green beans, carrots, or salad right alongside something like spaghetti. Basically, if I wouldn't eat it I don't make it so I'm probably not the one you want to use as an example. :O)

By the end of the day do you ever feel like just getting out by yourself?

Shocking as it may seem...no. Do I ever wish I could go to the bathroom without someone barging in...yes! Take a shower in peace? Yes! But, I don't really like to be alone. (Maybe I need counseling?) My husband actually teases me about this. :P

When you home school what do the little's do?

My days generally go one of two ways:

Follow a schedule -or- fly by the seat of your pants.

On a scheduled day the little ones get paired up with an older sibling. They rotate throughout the day so that I can have a block of one on one time with each of the school age kids. Then during the little ones nap time in the afternoon we do our group subjects science & history at a nice leisurely pace.

On a fly by the seat of your pants day all of the work they can do independently gets done while the littles are just up and playing (and possibly ransacking the house). Then the bulk of the work gets done during nap time in the afternoon, with me teaching all different levels around the table at the same time at less of a leisurely pace. Obviously the days we stick to a schedule are more ideal! If you are curious what our schedule looks like I'd be willing to email it to you (it's a little too big to put on here.)

Renata asked: How do you do it all with your beautiful big family? (thank you BTW!)

This one's easy. …. lots of prayer and coffee!

Handy hints on home schooling many...?

The best advice I can think of here is to pick your battles & choose curriculum wisely. If somethings just not working, ditch it. Don't struggle through it just because you paid money for it, your time and sanity is worth more. Have little ones? Curriculum that requires a lot of prep work or is very teacher intensive might just not be the most suitable at this phase in life. I prefer things that are just pick up and run with it types. Also, like I mentioned above sticking to a schedule can really make a difference. Even if your schedule is broad 2 hour slots of time it's better than none at all. Most people already have a routine they follow (wake up times, meal times, naps etc) just expand from there. I highly recommend the book Managers of their homes. Whether you have one child or fifteen I believe there is something you could learn from it.

Okay, I'm going to stop there for today. I'll post a part two soon!

Knot funny! Knot at all....

2011-05-01T10:25:00.000-07:00

Friday evening my hubby came home with a project on his mind. He's wanted to change the location of our rope swing to a higher branch and switch from a rectangular seat to a round one. Out came the ladder, only to find out it wasn't quite tall enough. I figured it wouldn't be to hard so I climbed up as far as the ladder would reach and then kinda shimmied up the rest of the way (maybe another 5 feet?). Wrapped the rope around a couple times and tied the knot.: We swung a few times, Ian and I both putting a lot of weight on it to make sure the knot was good and steady before letting kids go. All seemed nice and secure.; Saturday the kids and I go out and swing a few times testing out just how high we could go. Pretty soon Ian comes out too and I ask him to push me, since I wasn't getting too high pushing myself. I'm a bit of a big kid at heart and swinging is FUN! He pushed me a couple of times, the kids are all watching...we're all smiling...I'm getting really high up....then BAM.; I'm laying on the ground gasping for breath.; Ian rushes over and calms me down, telling me not to talk and to take short breaths. Falling just knocked the wind outta me.; Slowly I begin to breath more regular. We look up and realize the knot had somehow come undone.; All I can think (besides about how sore I am) is “better me than one of the kids”.; My daughter just wishes she'd been video taping it so she could send it in to America's Funniest Home Videos.; Today, I'm trying to take it easy since I'm sore from my neck to my thighs.; I'm working on the post to answer your questions...stay tuned. :O)

Q & A

2011-04-28T08:43:00.000-07:00

After posting the About Me (below) it got me wondering if there is anything you might wonder that I've never addressed?

If there is, nows your chance!

Ask me a question in the comments and I'll put up a post in a few days with answers. :O)

Questions can be anything....well, maybe not ANYthing...but silly or serious I'll do my best.

About Me

2011-04-27T07:00:00.000-07:00

I don't get too many new visitors to my blog...but just in case, here's a little bit about me, the writer of this here blog. My name is Laura aka. Duckygirl. I've liked little yellow ducks for as long as I can remember and somewhere along the way that nickname stuck. I am wife to a great man who makes me laugh and I'm a mother of nine kids ages: 10, 9, 8, 6, 5, 4, 2, 1.5 and a 4 month old baby boy. We live in the mid-west but we're west coasters at heart, having lived in Washington State most of our lives. I currently home school the 5 oldest kiddos. It may be a little noisy, a bit messy, and slightly chaotic around here but we try to have fun and somehow the Lord has kept me sane.

I'm using this to test something out...sorry if it seems like a strange post! :O)

Trip Bloopers

2011-04-22T09:09:00.000-07:00

No trip with our family is ever free from a bit of craziness. I find the imperfect times are usually the funniest ones. Here's a couple....

~ The first one here is *my* blunder. I was clearing off a table of plates after the reception. I'm walking towards the garbage can with Theo in one hand and a stack of plates in the other. Theo decides to wildly wave his arms and knocks over the plates....onto the back of another wedding guest. :/ (luckily he was very gracious and he didn't get any food on him)

~ We're walking up the steps to the Lincoln Memorial, a couple kids had climbed up ahead of us. I look over to see Stephen sliding down the marble banister only to land with his legs on the 'NO SLIDING' sign.

Our vacation - A friend's wedding

2011-04-19T07:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we returned from a fabulous trip to Pennsylvania! A very good friend of ours was getting married....in a castle! How neat is that?

This castle belongs to a missionary group called WEC International, which both the bride and groom's parents work for. They were extremely gracious and had a dorm style room all set up for us, better than any hotel we've ever stayed at!

The wedding was on Sunday and we arrived there late Wednesday evening, which gave us a bit of time to do some sight seeing. Rather last minute we decided to go down to D.C. (we had originally thought we'd tour Philly)

Our first stop was at the Smithsonian zoo. Fun to see the animals, but looking back we could have skipped this stop. (lack of planning, oh well)

We then left the zoo and headed towards the landmark mall. I didn't get any pictures of it but I'm pretty sure we were passed by the president in a motorcade!! Lots of police cars with sirens followed by several black limos and such...what fun that was!

The whole family in front of the Washington Monument.

This picture shows the rest of the gang that went with us, without all their help holding kids hands and giving shoulder rides...I just don't think we would have been able to do all that we did!

Most of the kids at the base of the monument.

Theo, Noah & I.
Ian, Josiah & Noah at the Lincoln memorial.

The only downfall to our trip was that the pool was under construction. :(

Here are several of the little monkeys in front of the White House, we got a few better photos but it was dark at this point.

We also saw the Capital Building, the World War II memorial, the Vietnam Memorial and drove past the Jefferson Memorial but I didn't want to bore you with hundreds of pictures!

Theo & Mommy

They did things a bit different and hosted the reception the day before the wedding. This is a picture of my husband & the grooms brother giving a toast.

Saturday night Ian threw a bonfire party, the kids had a ton of fun that night! I was a bit worried how it would work with Theo & Kathleen...but you know what? Theo fell asleep and Kathleen sat on the little rock wall content for hours. Truly amazing. Can you see her in the middle there in her little purple outfit? After dark the kids & I went to bed and all the guys stayed (a bachelor party of sorts).

There are so many more stories I could add but I think I'll stop there for today. :)

Saturday Confessions

2011-04-09T13:35:00.000-07:00

I'm going to link up with Melissa today, seems like a good idea. :)

1. I had an eye appointment this morning at 10:00 a.m. Somehow everyone let me sleep and I wasn't woken up until 9:20 (this NEVER happens)

2. Ever since moving to Illinois I haven't been able to wear contacts, my eyes are just too dry here. I'm giving it one more try with a different brand, we'll see.

3. Trying to lose 'baby weight' is hard when you are lazy.

4. I started all of us back on a schedule this week, structure is a good thing for us.

5. I also ended up potty training Noah (he's almost 3 for goodness sake). He's doing amazing, but he's not fully trained. We leave for a LONG trip soon, I hope we can somehow manage not to lose ground.

6. Ian's been spending hours working on a family website, I think he missed his calling somehow. He seems to love that type of thing.

7. Baby Theo is four months old now and giggles. Cutest thing ever.

3 Things

2011-04-02T06:44:00.000-07:00

I got this fun idea from my friend Leanne's blog.....and I thought I'd copy since copying is the best form of flattery, right?

Three names I've been called:
Mom
Lofa bird
Heather (by different people, weird. I don't think I look like a Heather)

3 jobs I've had:
Cart pusher for Fred Meyer
medical records filer
Sears portrait studio photographer

3 places I've lived:
Vashon Island, Washington
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
Bloomington, Illinois

3 TV shows I like: (I don't have cable or satellite...we watch online.)
Cake Boss
The Office
Clean House

3 places I've been:
Disneyland
Redwoods
Pacific Ocean
(wish I could visit any of those again soon)

3 places I want to go:
a spa
to a masseuse
someplace quiet....haha!
(just kidding/mostly)

3 foods I like:
pizza
pad Thai
mangoes

3 things I'm looking forward to:
going to a friend's wedding in PA in a couple weeks! :)
real spring weather
everyday watching my children grow & learn

3 pets I've had:
a black cat named PITA when I was a kid(yep, it's an acronym for pain in the...well you get the idea)
NO OTHER PETS! Sorry. Pets are great for some people just not me. :)

3 entertainers I like:
How about the Duggars? That's more than 3 but they're pretty entertaining (Sorry Emily)

3 Christian artists I like:
Third Day
Jeremy Camp
Newsboys

3 drinks I like:
Diet Coke
water
ice tea

3 pet peeves:
people who don't use their turn signals
anyone playing with my hair
repetitive noises (kazoo anyone?)

3 favorite movies:
BBC's Pride & Prejudice
Sweet Home Alabama
Top Gun

3 favorite actors:
Steve Carroll (SO funny!)
Hugh Grant (more the movies he's in than him I think)
?? Can't think of a third.

3 favorite actresses:
Reece Witherspoon
Julia Roberts
can't think of her name but she plays Leslie Nope on Parks n Rec....she's hilarious!

3 books I like:
Pride & Prejudice
Unbroken
The Hiding Place

3 role models:
my husband
our Pastor
A very encouraging, wise friend from church

3 accomplishments:
making it through each day
5 years of homeschooling under my belt
surviving childbirth 9 times

3 goals in my future:
growing closer to the Lord
teaching/training my kids
growing my business

3 words that describe me: (I hope)
friendly
trustworthy
fun

And for the sake of keeping things real, I'll add:

3 things that DON'T describe me:
patient
organized
stylish (I go for comfort over fashion, ha!)

March

2011-03-16T06:46:00.000-07:00

Since we don't have anything extra going on this month, no big holidays, visitors or traveling, we're attempting to hit the books hard. Having a baby each year (or close to it) means that we take about a month off, so I figure that we need to take advantage of the times when things are running fairly smooth. :O) So, if I'm scarce around the internet, it's because I'm working hard with my kiddos. Hopefully this will mean we can finish with the bulk of work and just keep going with basic math/reading during the summer to keep things fresh.

Have a Happy St. Patrick's Day tomorrow!

I don't like coming up with titles.

2011-03-01T06:49:00.000-08:00

Some weeks life seems rather 'normal' and I have a hard time deciding upon anything to write. This past week is NOT one of those. We've been busy. A good friend of ours (who is getting married this spring) came to spend a week with us and introduce us to his fiancée. It was a lot of fun to have them around!

On the last day that they were here we took a trip up to Chicago and toured the Science & Industry Museum (LOVE that place!). Then stopped at Lou Malnati's Pizza for a delicious dinner.

We spent the next few days working on my store. Want to see the progress?

Well, first I'll show you the 'music room' I talked about. The door in the back there leads into the store...

Lots-o-books!

There you have it from several different angles. Behind the curtain is our guest bed, Ian made it into a murphy bed so that we can hide it away when it's not in use (isn't he clever?).

Musical Family?

2011-02-15T09:00:00.000-08:00

Neither my husband or I are 'musical people'. I played the clarinet throughout junior high and that's the extend of the musical abilities in this house. However, the kids expressed interest in taking lessons. So now we have four of them learning instruments. Amanda & Jessica are learning the piano. Kenny is drumming and Stephen is learning to play the guitar. We even have a music room.

When the kids talked to us about lessons, we told them that it's not cheap and it would require a big time commitment. Our first step was to pray about it. Pray that we'd find a way to acquire the instruments and find teachers...basically pray about all the details.

You know what? Shortly thereafter, I received an email about a new teacher in our area willing to teach pretty much ANY instrument and he's willing to come to the students home for lessons.

It never ceases to amaze me how the Lord cares about things we may think are small requests.

Not only did we get lessons, but ALL the kids have the same teacher...and he comes to our house. No driving all around.

Amazing! We serve a very awesome, loving God! :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T07:05:00.000-08:00

Our week in pictures

2011-02-06T07:02:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Stephen turned 8!
On the kids' birthday's I let them pick out what they want to eat for dinner and the type of cake they want. Most of the kids pick out pizza and white/chocolate cake...not this guy. He picked out biscuits and gravy for dinner and cheesecake for dessert. His daddy complimented him on his wise choices as both of those are ones he'd personally choose too!

A few of the kids caught the colds (coughs, runny/stuffy noses) that have been going around, but as this photo shows it didn't bother them too much. :)

Bath time pictures are just so fun!

We got hit with 'Blizzard 2011' along with half the country, these are just a couple pictures to show how much snow we got. The drifts in the middle of this picture go up to Stephen's waist!

This is the view from our garage door, about 17 inches. Thank goodness for neighbors willing to let us borrow their snowblower, that would have taken ALL day to shovel!

Tuesday ramblings

2011-02-01T05:37:00.000-08:00

Along with everyone else in the mid-west we are expecting a blizzard today/tonight. They predict anywhere from 12-20 inches of snow and ice.

Kathleen is now 17.5 months old and finally walking! I think she could have done this a lot sooner but lacked motivation. Once she took a few steps and all the other kids cheered her on, she decided she'd go for it.

I'm working on an inventory list for my store, pricing each item & tagging it as I go. It's a long and tedious process. I'll be happy when I'm done and all I'll have to do is a handful of items at a time when people bring them to me (vs. the hundreds I'm doing now).

Baby Theo is growing well and seems to be a pretty content little guy. He's the first baby of ours that has refused to either find his thumb or take a pacifier, so that's new. He smiled at me for the first time a couple days ago, LOVE that!

We're plodding along with school and I'm seeing progress. I still struggle with hearing what other homeschoolers are doing and wondering how they pull of such fun and creative things. Am I just a boring mom? :P Some where along the line I stopped recording all the lessons we accomplished in each day, I need to get back to doing that. It really helps me to stay consistent when I can visually see what we've done.

We've had vehicle problems on and off this past year. Fix one thing and something else would go wrong....so we bought a new van. With all the time, money, and worries we were dumping into the other vehicles it feels like a load off our shoulders to have a reliable vehicle!

The munchkins are awaiting breakfast so I'll end there~

A visitor!

2011-01-21T06:52:00.000-08:00

I was talking to my cousin at Christmas time and he said that one of the fun things he'd like to do for his wife was to get her a plane ticket. She got to come on vacation here to the tropical weathered mid-west (HA!) to visit all of us and then spend some time with a friend of hers in Indiana. So this past week we had the privilege of having Ressa around. :)

This is her and I.

She brought Dance Dance Revolution with her, this is Jessica rockin' it out.

Abram just looks so much older to me now that we've buzzed his hair short!

Yesterday we loaded up the kiddos in the van for a field trip up to...

The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago!

Don't we look like a big crew? :P

Jellies!

Man (girl) eating fish!

Seahorses :)

Everyone promptly crashed out in the van on the way home too, that's always nice for a long drive.

It's been a fun week of girl talk, banana grams games and laughs. Can't wait 'til we see her again!

Somebody's taking up a lot of my time.....

2011-01-09T16:54:00.000-08:00

But I don't mind. :)

3 weeks

2010-12-29T15:23:00.000-08:00

Three weeks postpartum and I think life needs to return to more structure. While lounging and snuggling a newborn is SO nice, I just can't justify it for much longer. Not that I won't snuggle the little guy, he'll just be in the sling more often! This also happens to coincide nicely with the new year starting up in a few days.

~My goals for this month~

**Start up homeschooling again on Monday and actually teach school each and every day!

**Daily chores- the kids & mine. Plan them out and enforce them.

**Menu plan- I do this most of the time but I've taken a few weeks off as people brought meals :O)

**Eat wiser. One of the great things about people delivering meals is that they bring desserts...it's also the reason I probably haven't lost a single pound. I'm not going to 'diet' but I do need to make wiser choices.

**Work on inventory/pricing of items for my store (I'm getting excited about this one, I worked on it some today)

How about you, do you have any current goals?

Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-21T05:49:00.000-08:00

~ The Sims Family ~

Rocky Road

2010-12-20T11:21:00.000-08:00

I have really fond memories of cookies and candies that my mom made around the holidays and Rocky Road has always been one of my favorites.

I'm not sure why I only make these at Christmas time, other than it seems to preserve the tradition. Maybe they're more special when only eaten once a year? Maybe my hips and thighs and belly jiggle will thank me for keeping this to a seasonal tradition. :)

Ingredients:

4 cups rice krispies cereal
2 cups mini marshmallows
1 cup peanuts

12 oz peanut butter
1 1/2 lbs baking chocolate

Directions:
Melt chocolate and peanut butter in a large pot. Remove from heat and dump in all other ingredients. Stir thoroughly and drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper. Try and wait until cooled to eat. :O)

Birth Story

2010-12-15T08:31:00.000-08:00

Warning: details included may be too much information for some so read ahead with caution.... :)

I mentioned a couple posts ago that I was scheduled to be induced Thursday morning...well, I woke up Wednesday feeling a bit off. Just not quite normal. First thing when I get out of bed is a trip to the bathroom. Then I was up preparing breakfast for Ian before he headed off to work. Only I ended up back in the bathroom about three times over the next 20 minutes. The thought crossed my mind that maybe my water had broken but I wasn't sure. I mentioned to Ian that this might be the case, but I also could just be crazy. :/

I wasn't in any pain, no contractions or anything...just LOTS of trips to the bathroom.

Finally about noon I was convinced that I was indeed leaking amniotic fluid. I made a phone call to the doctor and they said to head on over to their office so they could check things out and see for 100% certainty and whether or not I was dilating.

Fast forward a couple hours and a few phone calls later, a friend is watching the kids and Ian, Amanda and I are on our way to the doctor. He checks me and verifies that yes, my water has broken and I'm dilated 3-4cm. Still no contractions.

I had tested positive for the group B strep so the doctor needed me to receive antibiotics for at least four hours before birth. We headed to the hospital (the building is joint with the doctor's office, so it wasn't far). There they hooked me up to the iv with antibiotics and proceeded to ask me the standard millions of questions. The nurse hooked up the baby monitor and the contractions monitor belt things around me. I'm still feeling perfectly fine, no pain but she tells me that I am having contractions. Huh, okay well at least I can't feel them! :)

8:00 p.m. approaches and the doctor gives the go ahead for me to get some pitocin. Time to get this show on the road!

It doesn't take long before the contractions pick up, not to fast and still bearable. We pass the time watching Mythbusters on tv and the nurse pops in every 20 minutes or so and cranks up the pitocin.

The doctor wanted an update about once an hour so the nurse checked me a little after 9:00, 6 cm.

A little after 10:00, 7 cm.

About 10:30 contractions are starting to HURT! I'm in pain and I don't think Amanda was really sure how to watch/act. The nurse was really sweet and pulled her aside and showed her how to wet down a wash cloth with cool water and bring it to me, also how to swing it around in the air as a fun way to cool it faster.

Around 11:00 I'm really uncomfortable, on the pain scale 0-10...I'm about a 8-9. The nurse checks me once again and says I'm 8 cm and the baby is LOW, which explains all the pressure I feel. She calls the doctor in assuming that things are going to go quickly from this point. He checks me and says yes I'm 8 cm and could probably push a couple times to fully dilate but there's a lip (whatever that means) on one side of my cervix. He looks at the nurse and says, "have her breath through a few more contractions"....and then he leaves the room. I don't think I've ever, EVER been so disappointed then I was at that moment!

I'm feeling really, really weak. I think this is because I hadn't eaten now for almost 12 hours. There was a lot of crying, moaning, me crying "I can't" (I think I say that during every labor as illogical as it is) The pain isn't letting up, between contractions I have a lot of back pain and pelvic pressure.

I think I must have said that I felt like pushing enough to convince the nurse, so she grabbed the doctor back in FINALLY. I don't think I'd dilated any more at this point but he tells me to try and push anyway. I get about half a push in and he tells me to relax and STOP PUSHING. He says baby's head is out and I need to relax and let the rest of him just slide out so I won't tear. UMMM, have you ever tried to NOT PUSH? So, so hard. Seconds later baby was placed up on my chest and oh what a GREAT feeling that is!!!!

The contractions are gone and all eyes are looking at this little miracle. :)

Rough, rough, super painful....but SOOOO worth it!

Theophilus James

2010-12-10T13:28:00.000-08:00

Born on Wednesday, December 8th at 11:50 pm

8 lbs 6 ounces

19 inches long

Welcome Theo, we love you!

He'll be here soon...

2010-12-06T15:53:00.000-08:00

Well, I can't believe I'm at the end of this pregnancy already!

After my doctors appointment today, I scheduled to be induced on

Thursday, December 9th.

This isn't because of any health concern, mainly just because I'm far enough along that the doctor approves of it AND it sure makes scheduling child care for the other kids easier. :O)

So unless little man doesn't want to wait until Thursday, that'll be the big day!

Stay tuned....

Busy Bee

2010-11-30T11:40:00.000-08:00

I was talking with my kids about the things on our calendar and realized that there is something scheduled EVERYDAY from now until next Saturday. Whoa. Not all of these things cause us to leave the house (repairman for dishwasher coming) and some things are just routine (piano lessons) but still.

Every.

Day.

And did I mention that as of today I'm 38 weeks pregnant?

I'm feeling alright most of the daytime. Late afternoon and evenings I feel pretty wiped out and uncomfortable. I feel kinda sorry for my hubby as he's the one who gets to hear me complain. :P

My oldest daughter's getting more excited for the baby, she's asked to come along to the delivery with us. The plan (as much as one can plan) is that she'll be either in the room with me or in the waiting room and be the first person other than Ian and I to see him. :O)

Thankful

2010-11-24T06:02:00.000-08:00

Thankfulness is a feeling that we should try to have all the time but this week is a good time to reflect on all of the blessings in our lives.

~I'm thankful for~

Healthy children
A loving, hard working husband
A warm home (with such luxuries as clean running water and modern appliances....things I too often take for granted)
uncomplicated pregnancies
loyal friends
laughter
coffee
a full pantry
cozy socks
amazing friends I've met through the internet :O)
the freedom to homeschool

and most of all a wonderful Savior

Jesus!!

Pregnancy week 36

2010-11-15T12:45:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure how I got to this point so fast, but I'm 36 weeks along as of tomorrow!

~I had my OB appointment this morning and baby boy's heartbeat sounds good.

~My belly is measuring right on 36 weeks.

~My iron levels are low :( He now has me taking two iron pills daily, hopefully this will help me with all the tiredness I've been having!

~I'm dilated 2 cm...Yay for early progress!!

Fear.

2010-11-08T13:55:00.000-08:00

I have a list (that feels like it's a mile long) of things I want to get done before the baby's born. You'd think that those things would be occupying my thoughts.

Nope.

Instead I think about labor and delivery.

And

I'm

Scared.

The end.

Kitchen Pictures...

2010-10-28T14:31:00.000-07:00

Okay, remember a LONG time ago I said I'd post finished pictures of our kitchen?? Well, I'm finally remembering to do it! :)

These first two are the BEFORE pics to refresh your memory:

These are the AFTER pics I'm sure you've been dying to see (Ha!):

Didn't my hubby do a great job?? I love how it turned out, it seems a lot bigger!

What's on my mind?

2010-10-25T15:29:00.000-07:00

Login in to Facebook and you'll see the little box that's always asking, what's on your mind?

It seems pretty simple to just pop in there and write a little one liner about what your thinking or doing.

Blogging hasn't seemed as easy lately. Maybe I'll just type out a few thoughts, they won't be connected or anything just kind of random.

~I went in for a check up today. Baby boy seems to be doing great, nice steady heartbeat, kicking away and making my belly BIG! :)

~I actually made it through a full day of school with the kiddos today without feeling like I was going to fall asleep (which has been the normal feeling as of late)

~I'm loving the fall weather!!

~Kathleen is 14 months old now (WOW!) I'm not convinced that she's going to walk before the next baby arrives. She's getting closer, but still.....not sure.

~ My fun, super smiley boy Abram turned 5 last week. He cracks me up with his little personality and also scares me with his fearlessness...I seriously couldn't love him any more!

~I should really be starting dinner right now but Ian's gone until late tonight and the kids are happily playing. I'm procrastinating.

~Halloween is approaching and I still haven't finished the dresses I'm making for the girls. I'm burnt out on sewing after completing the boy's. *sigh*

~ I mentioned to Ian that I was wanting some long maternity dresses but I wasn't sure if it was worth getting them just for the last 6-7 weeks. His reply, 'I'm sure you'll get a lot of use out of them during the next 5 pregnancies' HA! ....we shall see. :)

Now that I mentioned dinner, I'm hungry... I think I'll go start cooking now.

My warriors!

2010-10-17T06:27:00.000-07:00

Proclaim this among the nations:
Prepare for war!
Rouse the warriors!
Let all the fighting men draw near and attack.

Joel 3:9

We got all the boys (and husband) all dressed up for the Treat Fest at our church yesterday....SOOO much fun. :)

Scripture & A Snapshot - Week 3

2010-10-10T07:23:00.001-07:00

New ventures

2010-10-08T10:50:00.000-07:00

I think it's about time to post something that doesn't involve a picture of my preggo belly! In one of my last posts I mentioned that I'm creating a business. 'Tis true.

For several years now I've had a thought in the back of my mind that I wanted to start a resale shop. Mostly those thoughts revolved around kids clothes, toys, books and such. Well, then one morning I woke up at like 3 am and could NOT get back to sleep. My mind was just going like crazy about a curriculum shop.

Here I am a home school mama. A mama who's noticed that if you want to buy or sell curriculum almost all of the transactions are done online.

I'm also the kind that wants to look through books, to be able to touch and feel them...browse a bit before knowing if it's something I'd want to buy. I believe that I'm not alone on this one. :)

So, I've decided that I'm going to open a used curriculum store (and possibly a kids clothing section). To start off with it's going to exist in the basement of our house, with the goal of having a building to move to in late spring of next year.

I've put a lot of prayer into this and I believe that this is the way I'm being led, or at least something I'm being given permission to pursue. It's something that my kids and I can do together and eventually they will be old enough to take it over completely (if they are interested). Also, it's something that my husband is very on board with.

It's been pretty amazing how much progress has happened in just the last couple of months towards this! I'm hosting a party for the ladies from our church next Friday to talk with them about this new venture, get the word out and hopefully some of them will have some helpful feedback for me.

How about you? What do you think?

Scripture & A Snapshot - Week 2

2010-10-04T15:26:00.000-07:00

This one may seem like a no brainer but I thought it worked well for my first time linking up to:

Click the image above to go check out other snapshots!

Pregnancy 29th week

2010-09-29T09:32:00.000-07:00

Throughout most of my previous pregnancies I've had this picture in my head of climbing a hill, so to speak. The first 29 weeks are the upward climb, week 30 is the peak and then the last 10 weeks speed by. Not that the last weeks are the easiest by any means, just that the time seems to go rapidly. It's hard for me to believe that I'm approaching the 30 week mark already!

I'm feeling pretty good overall, I passed the blood sugar glucose test at my appointment yesterday. I was relieved not to have to take the 3 hour one (those are miserable!). The doctor did say that my iron level is low and he wants me to take a supplement....not surprising, I've done this at the end of almost all of the other pregnancies. It's also a good excuse to eat more steak! :)

Sleeping is becoming a bit more uncomfortable with heartburn and restless legs but it's not much to complain about.

Weight gain- I'm not really that happy about where I'm at now. I am 3 pounds less now than I was at my heaviest (full term with my first), and I have 10.5 weeks to go still.....

I think that sums things up fairly well.

Open House

2010-09-25T18:47:00.000-07:00

I am wearing...sweatpants, a purple tank top & navy blue hoodie

I am listening to....my husband watching a movie across the room

I am reading...the book of Isaiah for BSF

I am looking forward to...a night of real sleep, I think it's going to be awhile still....

Outside my window...darkness

I am creating...A BUSINESS!!! ...and a baby :)

I am praying for...friends/family, my BSF group, and guidance

I am thankful...that the Lord gives us grace, I seem to need a lot of it!

From the kitchen...a sink full of dishes awaits me :(

What's going on with you?? I would love to visit your open house!

History & Science

2010-09-10T05:16:00.000-07:00

Now that we are a few weeks into our school year, the foundation things (language arts/math) are going along fairly well. I decided that this would be a good time to start adding in history & science lessons. I wasn't very dedicated to history last year (bad home school mama, I know!) even though I really like the book we're using:

When I would read to them last year I'd give them a blank piece of paper and ask them to sketch whatever came to mind. This worked out alright but I wanted something more specific. So this year I bought:
I don't think we'll be using the writing aspect of this book but when we pulled this out yesterday ALL four of the kids had such a great time drawing along with what we were learning. Hopefully the enthusiasm will last awhile. :)

For science we're studying astronomy:

We'll be using the notebook that goes along with this too.

I really like the narrative style of these books and that four of the kids can do this together, though varied depending on their age. I must say though, after reading both of these lessons aloud back to back....my throat was sore! Hopefully that will get easier the more we get into the year too. :)

I'm a failure too

2010-09-07T05:28:00.000-07:00

I was going to write up a post about how lousy I've been at keeping it 'all together' lately, the housework, schooling, attitudes....etc. But then I came across this post and she just said it all for me. Now I'm just feeling thankful. Thank you Lord that each day is new and your mercy is great!

Life has gotten in the way of blogging.

2010-08-25T12:26:00.000-07:00

Seems like things around these parts have just been non-stop for the past few weeks! We've finally finished our work on our kitchen (though I haven't remembered to take a photo....that'll be added soon)

A couple of monumental things....

My sweet Amanda turned 10 last weekend!!

I think I mentioned before that we had decided to throw a big birthday bash once a year instead of giving each of the kids an individual party with friends. We hosted the first on on Amanda's birthday and it was SOOO much fun! There were over 70 people that came throughout the afternoon/evening.

One of the things we did for the party was roast a hog, something my husband has wanted to do for a LONG time. :)

Yummy!! (we're still eating the leftovers)

Here's Jessica taking a swing at the pinata~

And the birthday girl with her friend Bailey.

Another monumental thing is that baby girlie turned one! I need to sit her down and do a photo shoot now that things have slowed down a bit.

We've also transitioned back into school. The first week or so was hard, but things are starting to smooth out and do I dare say that today was actually enjoyable. Attitudes were gone and my willing happy students were back! :)

Things are going well pregnancy wise, I'm feeling good most of the time. When I don't feel well it's usually because I try to take on to many things and just plain wear myself out! :P I had my 24 week check-up yesterday and I'm measuring right on track and his heartbeat was a strong 150!

I think that's about all for now~

Randomness

2010-08-07T06:28:00.000-07:00

~It's Saturday morning and I feel like I'm moving a bit slower after working on our kitchen floor yesterday. We decided to remove the vinyl floor and replace it with laminate wood. My little helper (Stephen, age 7) and I tackled removing all the trim and old flooring, not really an easy task! After all that was taken up the floor had these little staples sticking up everywhere, so we were pounding them all down. Stephen was so cute, he said, "Mom, this is just like playing whack a mole". It makes me happy when one of the kids chooses to enjoy a task that is pretty mundane! :)

~Today's project is installing the new floors! I'm excited to see how they look when we're done.
I'll be sure to post some before and after pictures too.

~We are throwing a big birthday bash in a couple weeks....makes all these other projects have a deadline to be done...eeek!

~Baby girl Kathleen will be ONE in a couple weeks also, cliche I know but I can not believe how fast her first year has gone.

~We started back to school this week. Mainly just continuing right on with where we left off at the beginning of summer. The kids weren't very happy to get back to the books so we had some character/obedience training too, which is exhausting.

~A friend from church hosted a group of homeschool mom's at her house for prayer and encouragement for the start of the school year...seriously, this could not have come at a better time, it was wonderful!

2010-07-28T12:10:00.000-07:00

I went in for my 20 week ultrasound today.....

It's

A

Boy!!!

I wanted to put up some pictures but sadly the cd they gave me is blank. :( I'm waiting for the nurse to call me to see if I can get another copy, if I get one I'll come back and post them for sure!

Happy Birthday to me...Happy Birthday to me....

2010-07-24T05:38:00.001-07:00

Well, I've been having a hard time trying to figure out what to post here....plus we've been busy remodeling our kitchen and taking the kids to swim lessons.

Anyway, just to be brief, things are going well. I'm 19.5 weeks along now and have an ultrasound scheduled next Wednesday. We like to find out the gender of the baby and normally don't keep any secrets. So when I know, you'll know! :)

Now I'm off to start celebrating the first day of the last year of my twenties.....it started off with my girls bringing me coffee and a tiara to wear! :O)

Happy 6th Birthday Jessica!

2010-07-13T08:34:00.000-07:00

You are very loved!

How do you tie your shoes?

2010-07-10T07:24:00.000-07:00

Someone just posted on Facebook about teaching their child to tie shoes and it just made me wonder what method you use?

Bunny ears?

One loop around and tuck?

or this super fun way that happens to be how I tie mine?

Life

2010-07-07T09:12:00.000-07:00

Once Ian finished the tree fort he decided to move right on into remodeling our kitchen. When we bought this house we knew that the kitchen was small and something would need to be changed with it and we've been tossing around ideas. Once we settled on what we wanted to do, the demolition began. He's put in a doorway between the kitchen and dining room, removed some of the overhead cabinets and moved the counter to open things up. It looks and feels so much bigger now! I'll post some before/after pictures when it's a bit more complete, right now it's still a bit rough. :O)

On top of all that the kids are going to a soccer camp each evening this week and have swimming lessons every evening for the next two weeks. I know each of those things only takes a couple hours or so out of each night but having something EVERY night just wears me out. I'll be ready to be a homebody when it's all over.

The finished project....

2010-06-23T06:31:00.000-07:00

The pictures in the previous post were the building in progress. Here is the finished tree fort. The first two levels were put up by a friend of ours, but Ian did a marvelous job on the third level!

He also put up a ZIP LINE! The kids love it a lot.

This little cutie pie is now ten months old! (Her first year is flying by)

Happy Father's Day!

2010-06-20T06:08:00.000-07:00

Ian,

You are an amazing daddy, the last few days you've spent working hard (up a tree) are just a glimpse of what you do for them.....

We LOVE you!!

Need encouragement?

2010-06-16T13:54:00.000-07:00

click here....you won't regret it.

How sharp is your axe?

2010-06-03T12:31:00.000-07:00

There's a story that I'm sure many of you have heard about two loggers going out to the woods to cut down a tree. One takes the time to sharpen his axe, while the other just starts chopping away. The man who sharpened his axe can chop down the tree faster and with less effort than the man with the dull axe.

I was just standing doing the dishes a few minutes ago thinking about how this story can apply to so many different things in life. Here I was scrubbing away and I noticed that I have two sponges, one that I've had awhile and a newer one. The older one has softened over time and doesn't scrub nearly as well as the newer one. I believe that my time/effort is worth the money to buy a new sponge when needed just as the man's time was well spent to sharpen his axe.

It just made me wonder what other parts of my life this can be applied to. Are there other areas where my axe is dull?

Science & Industry Museum

2010-05-25T05:54:00.000-07:00

***Warning***Lots of pictures!

We took the kids on a field trip up to the museum in Chicago yesterday and had SO much fun!

Jessica is sitting on the outside of a plane here....

and this is the kids on the inside. I don't see them getting to go on a plane ride anytime soon so this is about as close to the real deal as they'll get. :O)

This was an old time cinema where they played a 20 minute Charlie Chaplin movie. It was neat to see the kids cracking up while watching.

Airplanes! The big white one above their heads here is the one they were sitting in just moments ago.

I wish I had had the video going when we rounded the corner to see this submarine, very exciting! This is the actual German sub captured during the war.

The enigma machine used to crack the codes, can you just see how happy Ian is to be here? Oh, he had a great time in this part of the museum!

Torpedo!

Depth charge.

And lastly, this is how Kathleen spent the day. She was a really good girl.

There were many, many more things that I could post pictures of but I'll spare you from hundreds of photos. I know the submarine was up top for some, but they also really enjoyed the space section getting to see the things that had actually gone up to the moon, very cool! One of my favorites was the storm center that had a Tessler coil to create lightning, a tsunami wave model, and a small tornado.

All in all the day was awesome, we'll definitely be going back in the future.

Playing in the mud

2010-05-21T19:13:00.000-07:00

It rained quite a bit today and when that happens our front ditch area accumulates quite a bit of water. When the rain stopped and the sun peeked out the kids were itching to go out to play. Shortly after I found them doing this....

and it looked like so much fun I couldn't stop them.

They had a blast and got VERY, VERY, VERY dirty!

Guess What??

2010-05-13T09:48:00.000-07:00

Yep. I'm pregnant. :O)

(sorry for the old news if you already know this *cough*Emily*cough*)

Another Day for random thoughts in a list

2010-05-07T11:32:00.000-07:00

~I am so thankful for a reliable babysitter! We've gotten a date night four Friday's in a row now! :O) It doesn't even matter what we go do, I'm just thankful for the time.

~The walls in our girls' bedroom are brown wood and I've wanted to paint them since we moved in. Today I started on what may turn into a long term project. I'm painting the walls in vertical stripes of three different colors. (I'll post pictures when I'm done, but I'm not even going to guess on how long that'll be)

~I finally got my plant starts in my garden yesterday. Watching things grow will be really neat, and hopefully produce yummy veggies.

~Max Lucado writes amazing children's books. I have a hard time not crying every time I read one aloud. (In a good way)

~Praying that we can order parts and fix our furnace ourselves and not have to pay the amount the service guy quoted us. EEK! (one of my very sweet children who shall remain anonymous managed to flood our basement with 1/2 inch of water and saturate the inside of the furnace)

~Noah turned 2 last week! We had fun celebrating, though I think he was completely unaware of what was going on and why we were singing to him. :P

~I'm trying to wean myself off of caffeine. I'm down to one cup of coffee per day from two and I switched to caffeine free diet coke since I can't seem to stay away from it altogether. Thinking decaf coffee is next.

Whatcha Doing?

2010-04-23T08:25:00.000-07:00

Almost daily my husband texts me asking, "Whatcha doing?"

Most of the time I have very exciting answers like: dishes, school work with the kids, folding laundry....etc.

My days are busy in a very pleasant yet uneventful way. Well except for the times when water gets spilled all over, the baby cries and everyone seems to be talking at once (those aren't the most pleasant!).

There are some neat things that are happening though. I started some seeds for my garden that Ian tilled up for me.

All the trees in the yard are blooming, very pretty to look at out my kitchen window while I do dishes!

Jessica learned how to ride without training wheels!! It's always so exciting when they 'get' it for the first time!

(and yes, I know she's barefoot. Trying to keep shoes on my kids is almost impossible, everytime I turn around they take them off again!)

Abram is not too far behind her in learning. Watching her has made him REALLY motivated! :O)

We set up a basketball hoop and have been having so much fun. We have it set low so that the kids can make it it the hoop and each evening we've been playing a game called Bump, it's fast, fun and hilarious to play.

Now I shall go fold more laundry!

2010-04-07T10:11:00.000-07:00

There are many, many times that I wonder if we get through to our kids. We try to tell them things and instil certain values in them only to pray that it sinks in.

This Easter I think we got a nice glimpse. Amanda gave us a card that said,

"Everyone wonders how eggs and chocolate came to be a 'custom' here. But everyone doesn't realize the true meaning of Easter is Jesus. But you've taught me that Mom and Dad, and I love you and Jesus too! Love, Amanda"

Made me cry. I love that girl! :)

Presto chango

2010-04-01T11:08:00.000-07:00

This is what my laundry room looked like when we moved into our house:

It's right off the side of our kitchen and it's the first thing you see when you enter the house from the garage. Not exactly my idea of ideal.

This set of washer & dryer came with the house and we already owned a set...which got my husband and I thinking.

We decided that we'd hook up both sets in the basement and turn this area into a pantry! :)

In my head I have a vision of some sort of door or curtain for here to hid this all from view.

Our kitchen doesn't have a lot of cupboard space so these extra shelves are great!!

And here is what my NEW laundry room looks like now. Thank you Ian (my husband) & Jon (friend) for all your help!

Funny

2010-03-24T06:26:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning with this comment made on my Facebook wall,

I have been meaning to tell you the hilarious thing that Abram said to me on Sunday. When he had his candy after church I asked him what verse he said to Pastor Dave to get it. He said "Galatians 4:15". I was very impressed, and asked him what that verse said. He frankly replied, "that's the verse, Galatians....4:15. Just Galatians 4:15." I was telling Nate about this before we went to bed that night and we decided to look it up. Just for the record Galatians 4:15 says: "What then has become of the blessing you felt? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me." We thought that was so funny...I'm guessing he doesn't really have that one memorized! :o) He just cracks me up!

Boy oh boy do I love him!

His verse was actually Galatians 5:14 "Love your neighbor..."

More pics :)

2010-03-11T12:14:00.000-08:00

I was snapping a few pictures this week to test out the lighting by our living room window. I just thought I'd share some.

Kathleen

2010-03-09T12:51:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted pictures in awhile so I thought I'd share a few today. :)

Kathleen is the calmest, laid back girlie!! She's sweet & smiley and I love her to pieces!

Day 2 was harder

2010-03-02T07:04:00.000-08:00

I am SO glad that I started with aerobics yesterday. Today I took the power ride class and boy oh boy was it exhausting! I had a hard time trying to figure out the right tension on the bike at the pace the instructor was going. All the ladies around me must have looked like pros next to me, lol.

In the mornings I normally prepare Ian's breakfast & lunch and I was worried how that would work out. Thankfully the timing couldn't be better. Classes get over at 6:30 and I make it home in time to have 15 minutes to prep those before he has to leave. :o)

Now I just have to make it through a couple more days and hopefully I won't feel quite so sore! :P

I wanna get fit!

2010-03-01T06:16:00.000-08:00

Kathleen is now 6 months old!

Wow.

With each and every child time seems to go by faster. This got me thinking that it's high time I started exercising. So this morning I got up at 4:45 and drove to a gym. I made it through the 5:30 a.m. aerobics class...feeling a bit clumsy, but hey I did it!

I'm signed up to take the ride class tomorrow, I think I'll alternate between the two. My goal is to be more fit, if I lose weight in the process than YAY, but that's not the main motivation. I figure that if I focus on just getting in shape than I won't become obsessed with weight loss and I'll be more likely to stick it out.

Can you tell I'm on the first day adrenaline high? :-)

Goodbye Anger Hello Soft words

2010-02-26T06:35:00.000-08:00

Too many times lately I have found myself on edge, cranky and just plain impatient. I feel like it's snowballed and I just haven't been able to stop.

Then yesterday I read this post that Angel wrote. She said all the things I've been feeling. If you haven't read it....GO NOW.

I'll wait.

...

...

Good isn't it?

I love it when conviction comes from the Lord. For me it feels freeing. When I try to do something on my own it feels burdensome and impossible. Knowing that you are trying to change because it's something the Lord wants in your life is SO encouraging! Not that everyday will be a success, but that if I struggle or fail, He's there to lift me back up.

Top Ten Tuesday

2010-02-16T08:23:00.000-08:00

Over at One Thing she's got a fun thing going today: Top Ten things that don't make sense to me.

Here goes....

10. How super skinny kiddos can consume so MUCH food!

9. How I can tell someone to go get dressed fifty times before they do but yet barely whisper the words 'ice cream' and they can hear me from another room.

8. Why all errands can't be done at drive thru's.....all post offices should have one, am I right?

7. insurance talk (love ya Ian)

6. How people maintain sanity without coffee.

5. How I ever figured things out without Google.

4. How in the world toothpaste ends up in some of the places I find it.

3. video games

2. bifocal contacts

1. Laffy Taffy jokes. They are either completely idiotic or don't make any sense at all.

Wanna play too?

Life

2010-02-10T09:01:00.000-08:00

I'm in the mood for a list today.

1. Stephen turned 7 last Friday! For one of his gifts we signed him up for a gymnastics class (that meets once a week). We figure it'll be a good fit for him, he's full of energy and prefers doing cartwheels rather than walking! :P

2. We've had a friend visiting for a week. His flight was supposed to leave today but was canceled due to the snow, so he'll have to endure our chaos for another day.

3. It snowed for the last three days. I think there's about6 inches total. Today the sun is out and my mood is much better. I don't like dreary cloudy days.

4. I took Kathleen in for a check up last week. They confirmed (what I knew) that she's a tiny one. Not even on the charts for her weight and they want me to try and fatten her up. The Dr. was not satisfied with my explanation that we've been through this before with several of the other kids (who are all healthy & happy). So, I'll be feeding her and feeding her and having her reweighed in a couple of weeks to see if it makes a difference.

5. We bought a piano! This is something we've been wanting for awhile now. We'd like to get our girls (Amanda & Jessica) into lessons, but owning one for them to practice on was necessary first.

6. CoffeeMate had a peppermint mocha coffee creamer out around Christmas time that I loved. I was sad when the stores stopped stocking it, but this week I was happy to find that Aldi had their store brand creamer in peppermint mocha flavor! (and I think I like it even better!) Sometimes it doesn't take much to make me happy. :O)

Homeschool Part 3

2010-02-01T17:40:00.000-08:00

In Part 2 I explained that the kids work on Science and History all together. So for Amanda and Kenny they are working on the same Exploring Creation and Mystery of History that Stephen is. Usually this consists of me reading the section aloud to them and then we discuss it and work on the project that goes with it. Some days this is a short thing and some days it's more in depth, just depends on what we are covering.

Kenny is in second grade this year. He seems to do fairly well with math and has caught up with Amanda this year. They are both working through Teaching Textbooks Math 5.
The cd-rom set up of this program keeps the kids interested and if they miss a problem it walks them through the solution step by step. It's nice to be able to walk them through things myself but to also have another resource!

For language arts he's working on Explode the Code book 7.

Wordly wise book 3 for vocabulary (LOVE these books!)

A reason for handwriting book B.

And he is reading aloud from the Pathway reader series book Busy Times.

I have a list of books that I had typed up that I wanted him to read independently....but then I read Stacy's list and I may chuck mine and just go off of her's. (yes, it was that good!)

Kenny goes with his dad and brother Stephen to the BSF bible study once a week and works on the assignments weekly. He is also memorizing verses for AWANA's and is also studying hard for the bible quizzing team!

Something that we haven't started yet (but need to) is Just Write book 2. I've purchased this recently and I just need to work it into our schedule.

Amanda is in fourth grade this year. For Language arts she's working on finishing up Just write book 2 (almost done!) and then she'll be onto book 3. She should be able to finish that by June.

Vocabulary is Wordly wise book 4, A reason for handwriting C...are you detecting a similarity here?

She reads faster than I've been able to keep up with. I REALLY want to start recording the titles of all that she's read. (note to self: DO THIS!)

Amanda is on her second year of the AWANA bible quiz team. The kids really put in an amazing effort to memorize verses and questions for this! In a couple of weeks a class has opened up so she'll be joining the boys and going to the BSF study too.

Most days I feel like we've just covered all the basics. In my next post I'll discuss the goals that I have for the rest of the year. I'll also talk about all the things I'd like to add in that we haven't been able to accomplish thus far.

Homeschooling: Part 2

2010-01-27T15:59:00.000-08:00

My daughter Jessica is 5 1/2 yrs. old and is my little kindergartner this year. For this level I focus primarily on getting a good foundation on reading and math. For teaching reading I've skipped around a lot using bits of this and that. With each of the kids though I gravitate back to two books. Evan Moor's Phonics Fundamentals (Vol.1 & 2)

and the Explode the Code series.

She is also reading aloud little bob books. Soon we will be starting the Pathway reader series.

For math I'm trying something different. I've used Singapore math with all of the other three and I really like it...starting in first grade. I'm not really too keen on the K level. So, I've started Jessica in Math-u-see. She LOVES it. She started the primer level about a month ago and she's already over halfway through!

For Bible she practices her verses for the AWANA club that the kids go to. She does Science & History with the big kids. (see below to see what they're doing)

Stephen is in first grade. (It seems weird to label them with grades really. Some things fall into grade categories and some things the kids all do together, no matter what 'grade' they are.)

The first thing he works on is his handwriting:

I really like these books (A Reason For Handwriting) because the copy work is scripture!

Math is Singapore. He started the year in book 1A and is now part way through 1B. I think he's on track to be about halfway through 2A by summer.

For Language arts/reading he's working on Explode the Code book 3 & Christian Liberty Press Adventures in Phonics.
He also reads aloud to me daily from the Pathway reader book Days Go By.

Once a week he goes to a bible study called BSF (Bible Study Fellowship). During the week he practices a memory verse for this and works on study questions with his dad. He memorizes verses for AWANA's too.

Science and History I read to the kids altogether. We are making our way through Exploring Creation Flying Creatures of the 5th Day. It's been slow progress but we're plodding along. My goal is to finish this book and move on to Exploring Creation Astronomy.

The other book we are slowly progressing through is Mystery of History Vol. 1.

Both of these books are fantastic, so when I say plodding through it's because it's taking a long time at the rate of 2 lessons a week. We have been doing Science on Monday's and Wednesdays; History on Tuesday's and Thursday's.

The one thing that was on my list of goals for Stephen that we haven't accomplished is typing. I wanted to have a time that each of the kids would be able to use the computer for this, but I haven't figured out a way that works with our schedule yet.

Next up: Amanda & Kenny.

Homechool Goals: part 1

2010-01-20T06:39:00.000-08:00

I find myself constantly reevaluating the kids school work. Deciding what's working for them and what may need a bit of tweaking. In my head I was telling myself that I should have written things down at the beginning of the year so that I could have a better idea of what we were accomplishing.

Fast forward a couple of days and I'm clicking through some files on my computer trying to find something completely different and what do I find? A list of goals for each of my kids that I HAD written at earlier this year. I had also included a detailed book list for each of them to read during their independent time. I do not remember typing it all out...but I'm SO glad I did, what a resource! :o) (on a quick side note: if you are looking for some good read aloud suggestions for your family Stacy has some great ones you should check out HERE.)

For the next couple of days I'll be posting what each child is doing. What our original goals were for the year, where we are now and where we hope to be by the end of June. Maybe if I post it all here I'll have it archived to refer back to easily!

Stir Fry On the Griddle

2010-01-18T06:37:00.000-08:00

A couple of places that we like to go out to eat are the Japanese Steak House and Flat Top Grill. Both places have these giant stainless steel grills that they fry up your food on while you watch. It's always steaming hot and delicious! The other night we were wanting some but not wanting to spend the money to go out, so we tried duplicating it at home with much success!

Here are the ingredients:

You could throw in just about any fresh veggies to suit your fancy. We used broccoli, carrots, water chestnuts, mushrooms, sugar peas & onions. For meat we used both chicken and beef cut into bit size pieces.

Garlic & butter, mmm.

If you like a bit of spice you'll want some of this!

Some good sauce, you could use any stir fry sauce really, but we like teriyaki!

Noodles. The restaurants usually offer rice or egg noodles, we prefer the egg ones.

An electric griddle. I use this one all the time. It's great for grilled sandwiches, pancakes, french toast, quesadillas....you get the idea.

First step is to boil up the noodles. You're going to cook these more later so only boil them for half the recommended cooking time. (For example the package for these said to cook them 20 minutes. I boiled them for 10) Drain them and rinse them with cool water to stop the cooking process.

Time to get things going now, heat up the grill (If your grill has a temperature gauge I set mine to 350) and toss on a chunk of butter to melt.

Pick up a bowl and add in all the things you want. This is the fun part because you can give a bowl to each person so they can pick exactly what they want. That way Ian can have his nice and spicy and I can have mine with extra teryiaki and the kids don't have to have onions if they don't like 'em and don't forget the garlic (we used about a tsp. of minced per bowl.)

Your grill should be nice and hot now, so pick a bowl and dump it all on there. Stirring it up pretty often.

I think any good stir fry needs some scrambled egg in it, so push all the stuff to the side and crack an egg on there. Once it's good and cooked up, stir it in with all the rest. Continue to cook it all up until the meat is no longer pink, then scoop it steaming hot onto a plate.

Doesn't that look yummy?

It's also fun to have a cutie pie like this watching. :o)

2010-01-14T12:36:00.000-08:00

There's this guy in my life that's super special to me.

He's handsome, funny and way more articulate than I'll ever be.

He's a great dad, an encouraging friend

and I feel privileged to call him my husband.

Happy Birthday Ian!!

I love you!

11 on the 11th

2010-01-11T16:50:00.000-08:00

I read a few blog posts yesterday from people who participated in the 10 on the 10th thing. I didn't get to it before the day was over so today I'm going to give you 11 on the 11th. So you'll get one more bonus since I'm slow getting this typed out!

1. My little Noah has started to say so many new words! He says baby, Noah, mama, dad, bye bye, hello, hi, up, car, ball and his version of the other kids' names (tetta=Jessica)

2. Kathleen is growing and I want to treasure these itty bitty toes as long as I can.

3. Josiah turned 3 last week!! I completely skipped over posting on his birthday but here's a pic of him as he was opening gifts.

4. Emily makes taking self portraits look so easy (it helps that she's adorable!)...mine turn out like this one.

5. We started a schedule last week that maps out our day in 30 minute increments. I love it. It helps us all stay on track soooo much more and I think we accomplish a lot more in the same amount of time. Now to just STICK with it.

6. I really want to keep track of all the books that my kids read. I think it would be extremely helpful in several ways.

7. I've had a back ache for the last couple of weeks. At first I thought it was because of the new mattress that we got, and now the pain seems more internal. I think it may be kidney related. I don't know. It's not intense pain, just mild and annoying. *sigh* maybe I'll just ignore it and it'll go away?

8. My daughter is watching a home video of herself telling the story of Goldilocks and the three bears....I need to take more video it's hilarious to watch later!

9. Getting to 11 things is harder than I first anticipated.

10. Stephen finished his first pathway reader book!! This is a HUGE milestone for him, he was super excited! :o)11. I'm having a hard time with meal planning lately. I try to think of a menu and draw a blank, you'd think I'd never cooked before.

2010

2010-01-02T07:21:00.000-08:00

A new year begins.

In a new house.

New goals.

A few new school books should arrive any day now.

New schedule to make (& hopefully stick to!)

The beginning of a new year reminds me of fresh snowfall. So fresh, clean and peaceful. Soon it will be broken in but for now it's just lovely.

Random Pics of the week

2009-12-17T10:36:00.001-08:00

Here are a few glimpses of life this week.

This treasure was Ian's gift at a white elephant exchange. Still in the original box and looking brand new, it's a flashlight and vacuum cleaner combo! I can't imagine how I've lived this long without one. :P

A couple of kiddos in front of our tree...

A cutie pie who will be FOUR months old in two days.

Time is passing too quickly.

And a little princess who learned that her new chapstick was purple instead of clear...I think she'll use a mirror next time. :)

2009-12-16T13:14:00.000-08:00

Between moving and Christmas coming up, I feel exhausted. Blogging about anything of interest would take brain power I just don't seem to have right now. Hopefully things will return to a normal pace soon.

House Pictures

2009-12-06T05:52:00.001-08:00

We took a couple of things over to the new house yesterday so I was able to snap a few photos!

This is a front view...

This one is from the side looking into the backyard...

This is from the back yard looking at the back of the house...

There is a gas fireplace in the family room (and a silly boy!)

oops, I mean TWO silly boys ;)

This is a view of the living room (and more silly children...)

I think they are happy and like the new house! :)

I'll be taking pictures as we move in so check back for more!

A meme to help get into the Christmas spirit

2009-12-04T06:46:00.000-08:00

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? .... wrapping paper

2. Real tree or Artificial? .... REAL all the way!

3. When do you take the tree down? ... probably the first week of January

4. How do you like your eggnog? .... none, eww.

5. Do you have a nativity scene? .... no, but I used to have one, it broke (porcelain) and I have yet to replace it. Maybe this year?

6. Describe this year's Christmas cards? .... FREE photo cards I ordered from www.seehere.com :o)

7. Favorite Christmas Movie/Cartoon? ...I like VeggieTales Star of Christmas

8. When do you start shopping for Christmas? .... Usually in November

9. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? ....I plead the 5th.

10. Lights on the tree? .... yes

11. Favorite Christmas song (s)? ....Mary did you know!

12. Angel on the tree top or a star? .... star

13. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? .... morning, after breakfast

14. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? .... long lines

15. Favorite ornament theme or color? .... snowflakes

16. What do you want for Christmas this year? ....to be in our new house!

17. Favorite thing about Christmas? .... watching the kid's excitement

18. What decoration do you put on your door? .... I always think about putting up a wreath and then never remember to do it.

19. What strange gift have you bought this year? ....can't think of one, all mine are normal.

20. Do you buy Christmas stuff the January following Christmas? ....clearance candy!

Now, copy this and add your own answers if you like. :)