I've been developing this post in my mind for weeks, taking pictures of our activities and progress on our yard. Sadly, yesterday an update caused my ipod to crash and I lost all the pictures. It will be awhile before I get over that.
I had some pictures of the plants in our pumpkin patch: the cucumbers, watermelon, squash, and pumpkins. I had a picture of the big jack-o-lantern that came up on its own in the front flower bed.
I had a picture of the tomato and pepper plants in our back-to-eden garden that is still weed free! We did end up pulling a handful of weeds from our pumpkin patch as the wood chips there are not as deep.
There were pictures of the progress of the amazing sprinkler system that Dallin designed and installed. The grass seed is in now! We are excited to see what happens in the spring.
I had the cutest picture of the cherry tomatoes that Simon picked from the garden. He loves those things!
There were pictures of the grape juice and jelly we made. And the plums and peaches we dried.
We found some strawberries for 3.99 a flat (8lbs), so we bought a few flats. We ate a lot--they were some of the best strawberries I've ever eaten. Strange for so late in the year. We froze some to take to Grandma and we dried some. We've also made lots of pear leather, our favorite! It took 6 weeks for our pears to ripen. We guess we picked them too early! I pressure canned 80lbs of chicken breast and some beans which were delicious and soft. We're looking forward to getting through the apples Grandma brought. Then we can give our dehydrators and canners a rest for awhile.
There was some footage from Nathan and Brandon's soccer season. This was Brandon's first time being on a competitive team, and he was an awesome defender. Nathan was one of the leading scorers. I loved that they were on the same team even if it meant we had to drive to Spanish Fork to do it. SF is the only city league that has 9th graders. They both really enjoyed it, and their team won the city championship. I had imagined their games being these delightful family activities, but that just wasn't the reality. Instead, Dallin and I tag-teamed it for most of the season. The younger kids were just not interested and made it hard to watch the game. Their games were also at 6 or 7pm, so it was hard to make dinner and bedtime happen. We all went to the first game and we all went to the last game. We celebrated with KFC during the last game.
I had some pictures of our new co-op. Thankfully, one of the mothers takes beautiful pictures of all of our activities, so I can steal those from her blog. We have had so much fun with Science! We also do composer studies and artist studies together. We learn a folk song each month and have a chance to share each week any art projects we've done. We've done nature journaling and had art lessons as one of the moms is an artist. So Science twice a month, art once a month, and the other week is Moms' week. We study and discuss a book and learn a homemaking skill while the kids play. My favorite, for sure! We've studied JS Bach and GF Handel so far. We love the Music Masters CD's and
Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers
to help us learn about the composers. We found a great website, calendars.com, that we can order old art calendars. We did Van Gogh the first month and we're finishing up Jack Stuppin this month. We grew mold and maggots and Sea Monkeys. Our Sea Monkeys grew to adulthood and had babies. That was very exciting for me! We've done lots of experiments on osmosis and made cell models with food and jello.
We've revived
Five in a Row, one of our most favorite ever homeschool curricula. The older kids even love doing it. I love the down-to-earth, wholesome, living books suggested and the accompanying activities. It is a favorite time for everyone.
If Jesus Came to My House gave us a chance to discuss hospitality and the golden rule. We also talked about and traced our shadows.
The Big Green Pocketbook gave us a chance to go on an outing to several different stores. We talked about handling disappointments and saying thank you. The kids found pocketbooks in the dress ups. We got ice cream cones at the grocery store first. Daisy's took a plop with her first lick, a dissapointment she handled very well! We also went to the homeschool store, the quilt shop, and Subway for lunch. At each stop, we found a little something to put in our pocketbooks. We made paper pocketbooks when we got home that told the story of our adventure.
The Rag Coat is a beautiful story that inspired us to get a bunch of stories we have with a quilt theme. We looked at some quilting pattern books and talked about some of the quilts we own. Each of the kids picked a pattern they'd like to make a quilt block out of. 4 years ago, we started quilts based on our studies of year 2 of
The 4 Year Plan. We hope to finish them this year with one block being a pieced pattern.
Jenny's Surprise Summer was fun because we got to rescue a kitten this summer just like the girls in the book. Ruby has been amazing helping this little guy. We call him Max. He was so little when Nathan found him that they had to feed him cat formula and help him use the potty. Now he's really growing. He and our big cat Mikey like to roughhouse, and we were all glad when he was big enough for dry cat food and the litter box.
They Were Strong And Good was an excellent intro to the family history theme of the year. I was able to share some memories and momentos from my grandparents including pink peppermints and lemon drops. It also inspired me to find my pack of old cards and letters that I'd treasured as a child. I stayed up reading them one night and was touched by all the expressions of love, especially from my Grandma Brown. What a precious heritage love is!
It has been wonderful to see the kids learn and grow in academics and other areas of life. Nathan is in 9th grade at the new Jr. High. He loves it! He is working so hard to get a 4.0. He has grown and matured so much these past few months. He is so much fun to be around. He was very excited to practice and try out for State Choir. He made it! He's excited to get his music for that and he also wants to try out for the solo parts in the spring concert which will highlight Les Miserables music. He has also been really interested in the piano, especially inspired by the Piano Guys and the real piano that Grandma and Grandpa Porter are sharing with us.
Brandon has a big workload this school year, but we know he is up to it! He is taking 2 LEMI classes: Shakespeare Conquest and Key of Liberty. Dallin and I have both loved studying and watching the Shakespeare plays with him. I have loved reading his Key of Liberty books aloud with him. They provide much food for great discussion. It has been precious to spend that one-on-one time with him as well. He is also taking a Speech and Debate class at the charter school that has really stretched him. He was very proud to have won 3rd place in his group on impromptu speeches in class one day. He has his first competition coming up in a couple of weeks. He plugs along in math and has rekindled his interest in LEGOs. I love that the boys will be down in their room for hours, building amazing creations now that they are older. They have helped Simon learn the ropes as well, and his favorite thing is playing legos with Brandon. Brandon still does art almost every day and continues to amaze me with his sense of symmetry and detail. He has made some incredible graphics using Paint on the computer as well. He has really stepped up as Man of the house when Dallin and Nathan are away. He is an excellent example and friend to his younger siblings.
Ruby continues to be a little homemaker in training. She has volunteered to do the laundry all on her own. She is getting good at looking around and finding nice little cleaning projects to do to make things nicer. She still loves Sullivan, but he is getting too big and strong for her. She doesn't like to dress him anymore because he kicks her in the stomach! She loves to read animal series, especially if she can read to Daisy. She has been reading
Emily's Runaway Imagination to me, and we both love it. She has written a notebook full of stories and poems about horses. She got to take 6 more hours of horseback riding lessons in September. She loves that so much! She doesn't like math much, but she does just fine. She has a hard time with problems I have to help her on. She wishes she just already knew it all. I remember that feeling when I was her age. She is great to help the younger kids by reading to them or helping with math. Her favorites are Webkinz and My Little Ponies right now. She loves buying presents for birthdays. I think it is great that that is what she'd most like to spend her earnings on. We have that in common, for sure!
Daisy is reading a cute little Mennonite series called "God Is Good". She is delighted by the little discoveries the children make. In one of the stories the little boy plants a candy corn to see what will happen. In another the kids put grease on their legs to see if it will make them go faster. She always giggles when she tells me about them, and I love it. She is getting so much better at doing her chores without complaining. She is way ahead of the other kids in math, like on lesson 49 or something. For writing she has been making checklists of things she wants to do each day. Then I give her a few spelling words to practice based on what she missed in her writing. Mostly she lives to play My Little Pony with the other kids. She is especially great at entertaining Simon and Sarajoy. With Ruby less enthusiastic about it, she has enjoyed learning how to change and care for Sullivan more. She loves being the one who gets him up from naps, and she doesn't mind changing his diaper as much. She freaks out a little when he piddles, though! She had a fantastic "8 til 8" and birthday. She is really excited for her baptism. Ears Pierced, Pizza Factory, Family Party, watching Princess and the Frog with the family, Neighborhood S'mores night, Baptism Pictures, Making a Dress, and opening a present on her birthday while I was gone were her 8 wishes. She had German Pancakes, Macaroni and Cheese, and Beef Stew for her birthday meals and donuts for her cake. She has done a great job of taking care of her pierced ears. She was also the most excited for our annual field trip to the Cornbelly's corn maze and other activities.
Simon is 5 now! He has really grown up in the past couple of months. His sense of humor is maturing, and it is funny. He is kinder to Sarajoy than ever. He loves to play ponies with the girls, legos with Brandon, and work in the yard with Dallin. He is super intense, and needs a lot of structure in his life. He has had some scary tantrums lately, but we are thankful that we are finding tools to help him with his powerful feelings. He is such a delight, especially when he is being showered with treats and presents. He is really glad to find out that "crush" isn't a bad word because he likes to whisper in my ear that he has a crush on me. He is a bit of a germophobe, which makes for interesting situations. Sarajoy loves to lick stuff to get him riled up. He was excited for me to bake a turkey recently until he saw it out of the package. Later he was not enthusiastic about eating the turkey stew. While stirring his soup around dismally he said, "I hate turkey now cause I can't tell which part is the bum." He recently came up with a scenario that got Dallin out of the way so he could marry me instead. He likes to read Bob Books and sound out words. He doesn't love the sit-down work much, but seems to have a knack for reading and figuring. He came and told me today that he was super mad that Sarajoy wanted one of his birthday fruit snacks, but he calmed down and gave her one. Wow. Now that is a miracle! He has moments where he likes to be helpful and moments where his jobs are completely overwhelming. He still loves stories and cuddles.
Sarajoy is learning to be kind and obey. She has learned her power with bothering people, but she is usually really quick to forgive or say sorry or give the toy back, etc. She likes to get a reaction, but ultimately she wants friends and wants people to be happy. She loves to care for Sulley in any way I will let her. One of her favorites is climbing into his crib to play with him for awhile when he wakes up. She loves ponies and princesses and babies with a passion. She is in that stage that no matter what she has, she is acting out a little pretend scenario that usually involves a family and often involves potty training. The other day it was just her little fingers at the dinner table. I had caught a couple of these cute little pretend sessions on my ipod, but, alas! The other night she'd had a late nap so was the only child awake. She was making up little songs about the daddy dying and saying the cutest things. She speaks in full sentences, but still with lots of lisps and errors that make it just adorable. She still puts herself down for naps with her pacifiers. She loves to wear dresses and play dressup. She is very silly when she talks to grown ups. She is fitting in with the big kids more and more, and is especially learning to have fun with Simon who she shares a room with. She gets herself dressed and can do a few chores by herself, though she protests loudly. Today I put on Children's Miracle Music to help her finish her breakfast, and she and Simon seemed to both love it. I might have to try that with them for their other chores.
I had some sweet pictures of Sullivan and some video of his wonderful growl! I hope we can still capture that! Thankfully my friend came and took his 6 month pictures and they turned out amazing. Glad we have those in a safe place! He sits very well and can roll pretty well. He still cries if I put him on his belly, but he will turn over eventually. He is just learning to grasp cheerios and put them in his mouth. He seems to need real food more than most of my other kids did. Nursing just isn't enough anymore. He gets a scratchy voice when the air is dry and is spitting and moaning and blowing raspberries on those swollen gums where his first teeth are coming up. He is so absolutely round and squishy and smiley that we are all a measure happier for having him around. We've been working on getting him to sleep better. He is on a pretty good schedule of sleeping from 8ish to 7ish at night. He still wakes several and sometimes many times in there, but he at least has the idea that it is night time and he's expected to go back to sleep. He naps at about 10am and 3pm. He will rarely let me snuggle him to sleep anymore, so that is sad. He gets so wormy and squirmy when he is tired that I just have to lay him down and let him fuss for a few minutes. Often before the 5 minute timer goes off, he is asleep. If not, I will rock him and sing to him for awhile until he finally gives in or I try another 5 minutes. I love taking care of him and still have a lot of fun dressing him. I made him the cutest little James P Sullivan hat for Halloween!
I feel content and happy with my life. It is not the pretty, orderly thing that I have written down on my schedule. I don't usually get very far on my checklist each day, but I think I get pretty far on my love list. School doesn't fit into the neat 3-4 hours before lunch like it used to. It happens at little chunks and intervals here and there between interruptions and meals and projects. And honestly, it happens during those times as well. It is a good, humbling lesson for me to allow my life to be a bit messy and to depend on the Spirit to tell me the next thing to do. It is good for me to focus on enjoying and being present for the constant interruptions that are my life. In fact, the meals and callings and projects are beginning to feel like they are the interruptions from the thing I like best: teaching my kids. That is a good shift for me. I am learning to use their times of misbehavior and frustration as chances to teach them about Jesus. I am still having days of depression. I feel tired and achy and sick from allergies a lot of the time, but I try not to let it bother me. Instead, I try to make those moments of pain or frustration opportunities to think about the Savior. Then I can smile with a grateful heart and slowly move on to the next thing. And I mean slowly. Life has felt like molasses lately, but I'm learning it isn't a race. It is okay to slow down. Dallin and I greet each morning together with a song of praise and a prayer. I can't even believe how much this has helped and changed things for me! I am so grateful for his support during this crazy time in our life. I love that I have been able to spend the last 15 years of my life growing up with that man. He has grown his hair out into curls for me. I've always wanted him to, and I think he is so handsome! We are learning to communicate and support each other better. It is good. So good.
I just returned from a delightful and renewing weekend with my mom, sisters, and sisters in law. 8 women and 4 babies for 4 days at my sister's house. We did a lot of chatting, walking, and eating good food. We also went to temple square and did some shopping. We had a "favorite thing" gift exchange that was fun and a sharing time of "nuggets of wisdom". That was my favorite part. We were able to share with others a bit of the spiritual growth that we've experienced as well as the practical things that have made life easier or more organized. We were able to share things we admire about each other. It was so enjoyable and such a treat to get away and enjoy my sisters. And it was special and fun to come home to happy chaos. Before I left I took some time to write a special letter to each of my kids. Something I should do more often.
I wish so much I had more time to study and read and write and blog. I love it so much! But my time is so measured these days that I have to really prioritize. If I can do a loving activity with a family member, that takes precedence over "me time", but I am finding that it can feel just as rewarding as "me time". Maybe I'll get a few recaptured pictures to replace the things I missed, but if not, I hope I have painted them well enough with words.
