Sweet summer

Just wanted to share a sweet picture of my littlest one with one of our dear friend's girls. The girls at church fawn over my little guy and in this picture, he is almost asleep, cradled against her chest as she rocks him back and forth on the swing. They're just precious :)

Sketchbook Challenge

I've just signed myself up for a sketchbook challenge. I have one year to fill a sketchbook and even though the book is not here yet, I'm already worried that I won't be able to fill it!

I used to draw. And paint. And make pottery. My life has not been all that conducive to hours of sketching on end, like it was when I was a teen! I browsed (ever so briefly) thru some other artist's posted sketches and got a big dose of intimidation! Of course, these people have gone to school for additional training, and possibly have careers centered on their artistic abilities. I chose to forgo school for life. That's right, I didn't go to school because of so many reasons, but the top of that list is because I couldn't bear the thought of postponing life for school! Silly, I know. I do have to say that I filled those year when I could have been in school with adventures and starting a family (and I'm not in debt up to my eyeballs), so I do feel pretty good about that decision. I guess I will have to remind myself that an artist isn't necessarily made better or made great by going to school, but by doing it.

I'm interested to see what will come out as I start to draw again. 10 years is a long time to be away from a sketchbook! A new challenge awaits...

Rainy day homeschool fun

Things have settled down around here finally. We are unpacking and doing our best to finish the house at the same time. So far the school year has been easy, probably because we have spent the last month playing catch up from last year. The boys are nearly finished with their math books from last year but, we have quite a way to go with English. At this point, I would love to jump to the next book, but I'm undecided. I worry that we will do the same thing next year and miss the same chapters, which could cause problems later. I haven't even ordered books for this year yet!

Today was wet and gloomy outside, and since I had a lot of work to do preparing for Shabbat, I let the oldest boys run off and entertain themselves. That left me with one preschooler to entertain. Off and on for the past 4 years, I have used "Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready" to help me get an idea of where each of the boys are before we start a solid curriculum with them. I'm not very consistent with it, at all; I use it as an evaluation reference, flipping thru the last 6 months to a year and looking over what they know, what they should and maybe doing a few of the activities with them if I'm in doubt of their ability in any given area. This year, I decided to try to be a little more proactive, with my 3rd son now officially a preschooler. Little did I know that his small lesson would turn into a game that all the boys would enjoy!Brody, exploring the clothespins

Today's lesson was a game of sorts - toss clothes pins into a small bucket from a short distance. The point is to refine hand and eye coordination, learn to gauge distance and understand that all our tries are good, even if they don't make it to the target. All good lessons, right? After Brody had a turn at tossing his 10 clothes pins a few times, the older boys asked if they could try. We played the game a couple ways and it seems like they enjoyed it! I'm sure other families have this all figured out and you can search for it online, but here are our versions that we played today:

What you need:

10 Clothes pins for each child. Be sure that they are different colors or materials ( plastic for one child, wood for another). I made the mistake of mixing and matching because some of them were in use on the clothes line... big no no! If at all possible, paint or have the kids color clothes pins in sets of 10 and just keep them around.

2 or more small containers, like baskets with no handles, coffee cans, mixing bowls, etc. If you feel like you need it, use cups for each childs pins.

A line to stand behind. Tape on the floor, a bench, the point is to stand behind it and shoot. The bench worked really well. Each child could stand to play and have a table top to put their pins on during their turn.

Ways to play:

Clothespin missles! The first game we played was something like darts. Brody tossed his pins at the basket, placed about 5 feet away (lengthen this for older kids) from the bench, and we counted how many he got in and how many out. There were no "misses". After 2 or 3 turns, his aim improved and we moved the bowl back a foot. Very easy, but everyone loved it! It was good to see the older boys challenging themselves by stepping further back for the next round.

Clothespin Shootout! Two children stand side by side behind the bench, with their clothespins (different colors!) There are two (or more) containers placed on the floor, one at 5 feet from the bench, the other at 7 or 8 ft. Depending on the children's ages, give them 30-60 seconds to toss their clothes pins at the containers. Clothespins that make it into the nearest container are worth ten points each, the farther container 25 points each. Prizes can be anything you want them to be! Again, so easy and so much fun! If you have a very competitive child (in my house, this is around 4-5 yrs old), its best not to pair them up against anyone for the shootout, but let them win a prize for their personal best of pins in.

There are so many ways that this could be played and so many items could be substituted for the clothespins (and what kid doesn't love to throw things in the house?) I'm feeling a little long winded now, so I think that I'll leave it at that and say that I hope you find a new way to play this with your kids and that you'll share it with me. We had fun and we beat the rainy day without resorting to a day of t.v.! Take care :)

Move over

Tonight is our first Shabbat in our new home! It took us a while to get things ready and finish up those last chores before we could begin, what with all the boxes and homeless items in the way, but we finally made it.

We tried very hard to get packed up before the end of last week ,but it just wasn't happening and we ended up postponing the move to the beginning of this week. It turned out it was a blessing as it took us a whole week to get moved out! It also meant we were able to spend a special last Shabbat in the old house.

It is such a relief to be in and know that we don't have to devote any more time to any other projects, just our normal (someday I assume they will be) routine and work on this house. After two months, having our energies divided between homes was starting to get really overwhelming! Since we moved in last Sunday, there have been drains to unclog, appliances to be moved (and then repaired), and unpacking unpacking unpacking! I've been cooking on a camp stove for the week and it has really made things easier since I can cook right at the table.

Soon school will need to beginning and it life will resume a semi-normal pace. If all goes well, we will have most repairs and decorating finished by the end of the year. I would love to have a housewarming this winter. In the mean time, you can keep track of our progress here.

pop princess

I gotta share this!

http://www.beckahshae.com/blog/

If you listen to the local Christian rock station, you might have heard a song by her. It is great! She acknowledges the jewish roots of her faith and is a living testimony of what Yeshua is to her :) It's awesome to see the movement in the hearts of God's people! Her song is catchy too ;)

l'heim!

Food for thought 2

I love my new cook book. I love that it backs up all that I know and love about good, healthy food. I love that I will not have to cut out a food group to be happy or content. I love that it has recipes and fun trivia and so much reaffirming information!

In this cook book is a recipe for baby formula! If you read my posts at all, you know how much work nursing has been for me. Finding this recipe is a little bitter sweet - if I had known how to make formula 8 years ago, I could have saved my sons from all the soy commercial formula. Then again, I might not have fought so hard to nurse, nor have the resolve to master it the next time around.

My littlest one has tried the milk based formula that I made, and lo and behold, he is allergic to milk! Just like all his brothers and his momma. This isn't an anaphylactic allergy, more like having hay fever congestion, and eventually the mucus works its way into the lungs. Not fun. So we will try one of the meat stock based formulas. It seems like the only offensive taste is from the coconut oil, which is in all the recipes. I'm going to start by freezing the formula into cubes and adding it to his food, hoping that he will get used to the taste and eventually take it in a sippy cup. At 8 months old, he refuses to hold his own bottle. I may not nurse, but he insists on having his time with me!

Other news: I get to take a trip to the big city this weekend, without any of my children in tow! I'm a little bit nervous, leaving the youngest one behind for such a long amount of time. It's just one day, but it will be the first time I've left him for this length. I also don't care for traveling without my kids, and never fully trust our vehicles to make the trip, so pray for me this weekend! I get to spend time with a special friend for her birthday and if I have time, I might stop by to say happy birthday to a very special little lady :)

Provision

Thank you for your prayers! We seemed to have found a solution to our problem of finding time to work at the house without kids. After a few more days of frustration, my husband suggested that since most of his work is nearly done (the demolition), he can stay home in the evenings with the kids so that I can work at the new house! On top of that, a few people in our family have volunteered their time and service as sitters! God is so good!

I have spent some of the week over there, mudding ceilings and painting the nursery. The only problem has been the weather; the cloudy skies make our midnight sun hard to use as natural lighting for painting and texturing. We don't have many light fixtures up in the house right now! Another week and the painting and texturing should be done.

I feel like summer is slipping by faster than I had hoped. July is usually a month that I spend taking field trips, fishing, and soaking in every last bit of sunshine that I can. I don't know if I will have time to fish this summer, but I have to try. Fish is a big staple in our diets and with all the bad news surrounding our oceans, I get a sinking feeling that this might be the last good summer to stock up. Is that too pessimistic? I pray that it won't be, but I still want to store up as much as I can.

At least we will be in our house by August, when I can start picking berries, making jams and foraging for other winter necessities. Maybe I can even get some garden beds ready for next year!