Thursday, March 21, 2013

Never a Dull Moment

Raising four kids keeps me busy. Here's a random and not-so-thought-out update of our lives:

1. I should never have to say, "Don't put that dead frog in the fridge."

2. We were sitting around the table talking about Jesus rising from the dead. Oren farted and Finn looked at him and with a straight face said, "Oren, did your fart rise from the dead?"

3. For the first time in the 10 years that we've lived here, I am able to consistently keep the kitchen, living room, hallway, and downstairs bathroom clean.

4. My children would rather sleep on the hard floor in my room than in their cozy beds. On the same note, Finn and Maeve sleep together every night. I'm happy that they enjoy each others company.

5. Tillie and Maeve adore each other. Maeve is always picking her up or showing her things. I didn't expect Maeve to care too much about Tillie, but she loves her. I love having some help so I can do fun things like bring in firewood.

6. Speaking of firewood, I almost started my house on fire this winter. I had started a fire like I always do in our wood burning stove. The fire went crazy and the temperature kept climbing. I shut the flu and the fire was still going crazy. As it turned out, when I had emptied the ash pan, I had not shut the door tight so the fire was getting air from beneath. I was *this close* to calling the fire department. That was fun.

7. I have no idea why people call it the "terrible twos". Two years olds are not terrible. Three year olds are terrible. Challenging. Complicated. Emotional. Tired. Cranky. Passionate? Yes, passionate. Passionate about being terrible.

8. My baby is close to walking. This is the time in my child's life when I start thinking about having another baby. I'm on the fence. On the one hand, I want to start doing things without a child attached to me. On the other hand, that has been my life for eight years and I don't know if I'm ready to say good bye to having a baby in my arms. I love my babies. I love my big kids too, by the way. I like even numbers so four is a great place to stop. If we had a fifth, I might want a sixth. Six kids is a lot of kids. It's a slippery slope. I would gladly have a couple more if I could snap my fingers and have my baby appear without having to be pregnant or give birth. Mathew is not open to adoption, but I do love Asian babies. My baby brother is from Asia and he was absolutely adorable.

9. I'm going to start taking the kids to the Catholic church by our house. I miss it and they can learn to love it.

10. We were talking about Jesus dying on the cross and I told the kids about the cross necklace that I own. I got it out, put it on, and Oren said that it was beautiful. He loves yellow and told me that gold is like yellow only sparkly. I stopped wearing my cross because I prefer silver jewelry, but since Oren loves it, I will keep wearing it.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Math

My kids are comfortable figuring out simple multiplication so we've moved on to division. I thought it would take awhile for them to understand, but they got it!! The lesson took all of ten minutes and they were telling me the answers before I completed the word problems. My kids are amazing!

In other homeschooling news, we are talking about plants and made terrariums. Maeve's seeds are growing and she is happy. I found a bag of potatoes that had sprouted so we're observing them to see what happens when the tubers are exposed to the sun. It's interesting and neat to see the changes. The kids helped me plant all of our tomato seeds and we've already put many of the seedlings in bigger containers. I have a few other hands on plant things to do and then I'm hoping the snow melts and we can get outside and observe plants.

Finished!!

The remodeling is finally finished and most things have found a permanent place. It feels good. This last renovation has been a long time coming and our very old house has a layout that makes sense and functions. My kitchen and dining room are in the same part of the house and the bathroom is no longer off of the kitchen. I also have a huge pantry that can accommodate all of the yummy things I will preserve this growing season.

I Like My Kids

It was brought to my attention recently that someone was concerned because "don't I know how much easier I would have it if I sent the kids to school?"

It is intentional that my kids are usually with me. I have received so much crap over the years for homeschooling and choosing to be with my kids. I don't like other people to drive my kids around and we rarely have anyone babysit. This is not because I can't leave my kids. This is not because my kids can't leave me. It is because I put a great deal of value on this little family my husband and I have created. My kids are not completely dependent on me nor are they attached in some kind of unhealthy way. If fact, the opposite is true. My kids are independent and well adjusted. Can you believe it? It's like I'm teaching them something about being human while they are with me all day. Fascinating, isn't it?