What We've... (New Moon: Twelfth Month)

It's a new moon.  Or at least it was!  LOL  Whenever the new month falls on a Sabbath day, it never fails...I get the post done late.  I'm too busy on prep day, and I don't like to do posts on this blog on Sabbath.

Happy New Month!   What we've done over the past (eleventh) month...


What Blessings We've Received...

*A surprise baby, very much not planned but someone I'm sure will be a blessing to us.

*At least three different wonderful persons gave us monetary gifts or the gift of maternity clothing (I'd given most of mine away) to help us during a rough spell.  We've been used to being the helpers for several years now, but we've reached a [hopefully temporary] time in which we're the ones who need help again.

*Nathan and I both received letters inviting us to join the honor society Phi Theta Kappa for our "outstanding academic performance during [our] college career." 

*I was able to drop one of the two classes for which I enrolled this semester, because not only did I get my books delivered late the first week of classes, but things are difficult to keep up with during my first trimester of pregnancy. 

*I've just finished three weeks of my sociology course.  Grades for week three have not been posted, yet, but I feel good about it.  Based on my first two weeks, so far I've got a perfect score.  This brings me great relief, because I sure have stressed over it all!

*Nathan has some work lined up that I pray he can do without harm, and he dropped all his original four classes to enroll in the second eight weeks program again with two classes.  He starts in mid-March.  He said he actually prefers the eight-weeks program, though I couldn't imagine trying to keep up with that.

*Eagles!  We've seen a lot of bald eagles up very close, and they are truly a majestic sight to see. I keep forgetting to take my digital camera with me, though, when we travel through where they're high-density (though I've gotten to see one around our house).  When we went to the college one day, Nathan turned around and pulled over for me so that I could take some pictures me with my iPhone and so that we could just enjoy seeing the bird in the tree.  This was the closest I believe I've ever seen one in a tree.  Sure wish I'd have had my camera that could have really zoomed in without losing picture quality.

 

I've gone to the post office and have seen them fly over through my windshield view, not very high up.  Just awesome!  And so large!

The kids and I got to see a turkey fly right in front of our truck, too, on our way home from church one day. 

And I saw a large flock of birds fly while coming down our road one day, which has become more rare in the past couple of years or so.  I have truly believed it is because our closest (in proximity, not in good relations) neighbor let her cats breed wildly out of control, and so many cats lead to so many killing of birds.  We think she's gone, though!  We think she finally got remarried and moved away and took her cats twenty to thirty cats or whatever it was.  We've got just two cats (and not able to breed), and they are killers enough!  It's so tempting to have their claws removed. 

*I was able to get our 2013 photo book made and ordered.  It was more rushed than I'd wanted, and there were a lot of pictures I had to exclude in order to end up with just one book this year.  I had to hurry so that I could order before the big sale was over, and I know they will end up having other sales on photo books later in the year, but I didn't want to wait forever to get our book.  Although I believe I could have made it better, I am actually pretty content with the way it turned out. 

Remember the eye collage?

Family and friends will soon get a share link via email to view the digital version.

*A good snow and some sledding fun!  There was one day where there was a lot of sledding and some other great things, and William said that he put all blue dots on his wall calendar that day and that it was the best day he'd had in a long time.  (He uses a system of four or five dots that he makes with a red-orange and a blue marker, and blue is good, and the red-orange is bad, so a fabulous day has all blue dots.)

 We had a few days of really cold weather, where the HIGH was in the single digits!

We actually ventured out in the snow one day (Nathan drove, no way I would do it, especially by those bluffs) to get some fresh produce and such. 

Do you see that our faces are red and wet???  The sledding from the previous day was on a well-made homemade sled, but Elizabeth and I were directed on this day to use the plain sheet metal sled ("because it slides better"), which ends were bent safely and all so that no one gets cut.  Well...we did get hit in the faces with a little bit of snow the previous day, but this day....it was TORTURE! Seriously, I could not enjoy the speedy ride because of the constant heavy snow blowing in my face, and all I could think through what seemed like an eternity of never-ending painful snow hitting me in the face was, "My poor baby, my poor baby, my poor baby."  She was sitting in front of me, so I figured she was getting it worse (but perhaps not).  She was screaming, though, at least she was when we stopped.  I knew I'd screamed during it all, too.  As soon as we came to a stop, I scrambled to get up with my sweet baby girl and get the snow off of us, and I heard Nathan and William laughing hysterically.  I was not amused.  We went into the house to dry our faces, but first I snapped the pictures of our faces right after our so-called "joy ride."  Just look at that precious innocent face looking up at me!  She was probably thinking, "Why did we just willingly do that?"

The bottom two pictures were taken right afterward, as we brushed off the snow, dried our faces, and went back out for a few minutes...to WATCH.

They came down the hill at the same time and then veered off in different directions.  Was pretty neat the way they did it.  I didn't notice snow blasting on them so much. 

What Kids Have Done...

Two sample pages of Trusten's Explode the Code work:

Below, his message at the beginning of his current book, that I talked about in my last post.  He was loving, loving, loving this stuff until the current book, but I think he's okay with it now.

 

I couldn't help but chuckle.  I told him he forgot his punctuation and capitalized "book." 

We've been blessed with some nice days here and there.  Not even a coat necessary for this day, when I did math with Trusten outside.  He'd finished his work in Life of Fred for the day, and I had him do some work on bar graphs that I had in some miscellaneous stuff. 

Above is a drawing of Liv's that includes all of us, her imaginary friend "Indta," a dragon with spikes, and a "turtle friend," which is what the spots on the right are.  I don't know what upside-down "T" and spots are on the left.  She said the little person is Elizabeth "with her ponytail."  :-)  How cute.

These bug-like people are Olivia's typical drawings of people.  I think they're fun, though!

Below Liv is using stickers on a Highlights "Hidden Pictures."  We got this one free in the mail.  She did a great job!  She found all the stuff herself, except when the boys went over to bother her and told her the very last object (after I told them not to do so).

Nathan's dad gave the boys each an old hard drive to take apart, which greatly thrilled William. 

Trusten liked to spin the wheel.

Can you tell William is talking to me all about the parts?  LOL

I think William ended up keeping some parts back in his spare parts basket he keeps for whatever creations/inventions for the future.  ;-)

I walked into the living room one day to see the kids gathered around (and on) the dining room table, obviously fascinated about something William was doing.  I can't remember what it was or whether I even inquired (pregnancy brain, keep in mind...I'm just here these days), but I zoomed in on these pictures before I selected them, and it looks as if he's got one of our science experiment books, and I do vaguely remember recently seeing it lying around.  Whatever it was he was doing must have been a real show.  LOL  The only thing I was really thinking at the time, I think, was how nice it was to see them all together at the table like they were, getting along so nicely (love those times).

It's usually either Jaden William or Olivia holding chickens, but here I've got pictures of Trusten and Elizabeth holding them:

 
And Elizabeth crawling through an end table and needing assistance getting out...

The picture below was taken in the morning before I'd helped Elizabeth get dressed and brushed the girls' hair.

Below Elizabeth is shown chasing the chickens, wanting to show them her love.  Poor baby has gotten close before, but she's not been able to ever catch one by herself.

William is on a kick using his Yonanas machine that Nathan's mom got for him.  He whipped up some frozen strawberries, peaches, and a small amount of sugar and almond milk, and froze the stuff in his mold for frozen treats on a stick.  We didn't have any frozen pop sticks, so he used chopsticks, instead. 

He's really enjoying crushing ice up in the machine, too, for his drinks.  It's funny, because one cold day recently the three oldest kids came in from playing, and Olivia wanted hot cocoa, and William said he didn't care about that, he just wanted one of the frozen fruit treats he'd made.  I later told Nathan that the hot cocoa makes more sense when it's cold, and I told him I remembered my momma sometimes made us homemade juice pops with Hawaiian Punch in ice cube trays, with little pop sticks, and the one time the memory really stands out is a time we came in from playing in some snow in the winter, and I remember standing in front of the fireplace to get warm, and she was about to give us some of those frozen fruit treats!  LOL!  Of course, as a kid I know I was very happy about it, but as an adult looking back on it, I get cracked up.

I usually have a picture or two to include in my prayer journal entry each day, and I didn't have one when I went to write (type) one Sabbath morning before getting ready for church, so I snapped the one below.  It was a nice day.  It's a funny picture, too.  I don't really know what was going on.  You can see William running one way (and the dog in the background going the same direction, parallel), then Trusten is running the opposite direction, Elizabeth is standing over there looking one way, and Olivia is a good ways across the yard looking the opposite direction.  They are so silly.

If the previous picture wasn't enough to convince you they're silly, maybe the next one will.  Well, it appears the two girls are normal and their daddy (though he might just be posing as normal--lol).

Oh, the fun we have after dinnertime!  Okay, so Nathan is tying William in knots with rope.  This has gone on for years now.  William has quite a skill of getting out of the toughest knots...of all kinds.  Nathan has been certain at times that William "will not get out this time," and lo and behold, every time he eventually does, even though it sometimes takes quite a long time of struggling and working at it.  William says of this one, "That was one of the best [set of] knots he's tied me in."

What We've Eaten...

We've had quite a few sandwiches over the last month, mostly with store-bought bread, because I haven't felt like cooking!  Nathan made the delicious oatmeal one night, shown above with raisins and cranberries, and sprouted almonds.  I made brownies, as you can see in the first two pictures, the batter and the finished product.  I like to throw chocolate chips in, and usually I include pecans or walnuts, too.  ALL freshly-ground wheat and still very delicious.  I make everything with freshly ground flour.   Then there's venison and potatoes cooked in garlic butter.  Nathan and I were craving sauerkraut again, so he bought hot dogs and buns.  I'd been craving chicken and dumplings so badly.  I made them the quick and easy way by buying some tortillas.  My favorite thing to have with them is fried okra, so I made that, too, and just threw it in the bowl.  Mmmmm.  I guess I'm the only one who thinks so, but that's ok.  Leaves more for me!  There's apple pie, a Sabbath dessert request by JW.

And what is that noodle stuff, you ask?  Well, you see, I've been eating fajitas left and right, which is common in most of my pregnancies, and there was no way I felt like making tortillas on top of cutting up onions, meat, tomatoes, etc. (I at least buy the frozen tri-color peppers that I don't have to cut), nor did I have any store-bought ones, so I decided to just mix up fajita stuff like I normally do, add extra seasoning, and I boiled some fettuccine noodles and mixed it all together.  It wasn't as good as with tortillas, but I thought it was pretty good, anyway.  You can see on my plate that I added shredded cheese and started mixing it in.  There was some left over, enough for me to make a sandwich the next day, also pictured.  Pretty good!

Oh, and I was going to just combine my last Citrus Lane review here with this post, to save me time and all, but maybe I'll skip it altogether.  I do have a "Sharks and Teeth" post planned.  That theme slowly drug out for probably the whole month.  My productivity really goes down during this stage of pregnancy, but at least I've dealt with very little nausea this time around (so far, so good, thankfully).  It has come on here and there, mostly pretty mild.  But I'm still tired and probably the dizziest I have ever remembered being during pregnancy.  I really must eat frequently, or the dizziness becomes worse, and I'm more likely to become nauseous, too.  Soon I hope to regain some energy and not be so scatterbrained/absent-minded and moody.  I feel pretty lazy right now.  I'm so blessed that Nathan and William have helped out a lot and Nathan has said he would do his best to keep my stress down.  He's been wonderful. 

Soon, soon I hope to get back with the program.  I have mostly just told the boys to do their self-directed work, and when I feel like it, I do other stuff. 

Until next time...

General Four-Month Update: January 2014

A little over four months ago, I gave a general update on each of the children and laid out our school book plans for the following four months and beyond.

This is where we stand:

William

10 years, 7 months

I've had trouble lately on and off getting him to do his self-led work, like his daily journaling and getting his weekly history and science stuff completed on time.  He is a great help around the house much of the time, for the most part, and for that I'm so very grateful.  He's so sweet to do extra when I need him to, even making breakfast some mornings.  That still takes up very little of his time, and he certainly possesses far more time than an institutionalized child, so I still find it very frustrating that he's not completing his work.  I've been praising him for the things he is doing well, and I'm brainstorming on the best way to get him to do his school work continually.

I know and totally respect that he likes to direct his own learning.  I'm the same way.  I don't like to be told what to learn and when.  And he is very much a self-directed learner.  He researches a lot and is always talking to me about a wide variety of things he's been reading about, and I even learn new things this way on a regular basis.  I constantly tell him he'd make a great college professor.  But it's not reading skills and scientific and historical and geographical and language and other such things I'm worried about him not succeeding throughout his life in.  He reads and observes, explores, and experiments plenty.  But his writing skills need improvement, and they won't improve unless he writes, writes, and writes some more.  I don't even require a lot of writing, but if he'd just do what I require of him in that, I think he'd be fine.  So I've got to think of a way to get him to want to write, without it being a bribe.  He's at least happy about doing math these days, thanks to Life of Fred.

For various reasons, we've missed probably three, maybe four weeks of history, but we're almost a quarter of the way through the second volume of Mystery of History.  The goal for his science reading (he does this on his own, but we read history together) is for him to finish the three volumes of For Heaven and Earth by the end of this Roman year, and he's halfway through the first one, plus he's doing supplemental reading.   Still, our self-led science lifestyle dominates. Again, the only reason I use the textbooks is to make sure we don't miss anything.

He's almost finished with Honey in Life of Fred, even though we missed some weeks.  I think we're doing fine on that.  It is such a blessing that he looks forward to our math time now! We do do this together still for now.

He is constantly drawing sketches of invention ideas and even wakes up from dreams to sketch out invention ideas or additions to existing ones he's got, and yes, he even writes notes (though that is not going to get him up to where he needs to be in regards to writing skills).

He is still owed one pottery wheel class from when one was canceled, and we're still waiting for the remaining creations he made to be given to him.  They were supposed to be fired/glazed, but we haven't received a phone call.  I emailed today to ask about it.

He builds a lot of our fires in our wood stove, he's helped Nathan skin and cut up deer meat, and he still takes good care of our chickens.  He is very protective of our chickens.  He's also our dog's favorite person.

Plans for the next four months: to continue working in the books previously mentioned, also starting Life of Fred: Ice Cream and perhaps we'll get to Jelly Beans before the end of the next four months, and figuring out a way to get William to want to write.

Trusten

6 years, 8 months

Trusten is the opposite of William.  He starts on his Explode the Code and journal drawing and writing first thing in the morning, but I have trouble getting him to get dressed before he starts the day and to help pick up and otherwise help around the house (doing easy, age-appropriate things).  He is highly motivated to do his school work by getting to game for awhile in the afternoon.  I never need to ask him to start his work.  He just does it.

Since the post four months ago, he has gone through the second and third Explode the Code books and is more than halfway through the fourth.  He typically does five pages a day now.  He was loving it and doing extremely well until the fourth book.  He's still doing well for the most part, but he wrote an interesting message at the beginning of that book.  Stay tuned for that in the upcoming new month "What We've Been Doing..." post.  He has been introduced to syllable division in the fourth book, and he's not cared a lot for that, but I'm going back over that with him to make sure he understands each rule.  He has normally gone through the books on his own, reading the directions and doing the work almost perfectly.  I got way behind on going over his work, like fifty pages or so behind (but I got caught up today--Jan. 29), and as I went through it all, I noticed some syllable division rules he seems to understand fine, while others he doesn't as well.  Then on the pages where he doesn't have to divide syllables but just do the things he's normally done in the other books, he's missed more, whereas before he rarely got anything wrong.  He may be getting tired of it.

He also finished the U.S. history and geography book Our Christian Heritage a few weeks ago.  I've given a much lower work load over the past three or four weeks, but I'm wanting to focus on U.S. geography with him now, teaching him all fifty states, the capitals, and some important facts.

He's doing fine with math.  He's nearly finished with Life of Fred: Butterflies, which is the second book in the series.

I totally did away with starting him on science textbooks.  He is not ready for the books we've got, but this is no big deal at all.  We can wait three or four years, and depending on how Liv turns out, I might be able to go through that with them together.  He'll just continue to learn science solely by our dominant method of talking about it, reading whatever we want, observing, experimenting, etc.

He's almost done with the entire Rocket Readers books.

I just started him on Grade 2 Complete Curriculum writing section, which wasn't done by William who completed the other sections of the book a few years ago.

Olivia

4 years, 3 months

Liv does some free drawing, plays iPad and iPhone games, plays with her toys, talks to her imaginary friends, asks me a plethora of questions throughout each day (with a heavy emphasis on, "Why?"), and tells dramatic stories.  This is pretty much the way it's been for the longest time, so nothing really has changed since the last general update.  I did finally start her in the Language Lessons book, writing her letters, listening to poems, etc. but I haven't been diligent to do this much with her.  She does still practice writing numbers and letters with the Writing Wizard app on my iPad.  She sometimes watches our phonics videos by Preschool Prep. 

I think I need to get out the Inchimals more often and work with her and Trusten together on math that way.

I just need to work in more time with her, period, working on cutting and pasting, writing, preparing for reading, counting higher, etc.  I'm going to try to work on this.  Nathan says I really should work with her more and believes she could start reading soon.  

Elizabeth

2 years, 1 month

I'm surprised this girl didn't melt all the snow around her, because she sure melts my heart!  She's so full of love and joy and compassion and a humble and repentant spirit.  She usually will stop what she's doing if I tell her to stop.  She will usually come to me when I ask.  If she slaps or swipes at someone, and I remind her to be gentle, she will self-correct and pat gently.  

I'm hardly worried at all anymore about her speech delay, and it is more of a speech delay than a language delay.  She gets her point across, and she uses several signs.  She has demonstrated a superb memory, for she has used signs that haven't been used in many months, showing she understands about something.  I've got around 30 words and a few additional phrases that she use—or has used—on a regular basis.  This is below average for her age and WAAAAY behind either Trust or Liv, but I simply cannot compare her to them, as they were both advanced in language and speech, with Olivia being the most advanced child in speech I've known thus far and has amazed many people with whom we come into contact.  

I know some children end up being geniuses or nearly so who don't have but one or a few words, until around their third birthday (sometimes not using sentences until age four), where all of a sudden they start talking a lot.  Einstein was like that.  But Elizabeth does not meet those set criteria, as she's been delayed in multiple areas, but not severely so.  She didn't walk until 16.5 months, which is late, but it's not severely late.  She is not potty-trained, yet, whereas all my children before have been by their second birthday (though Liv regressed multiple times, until she was about 2.5).  Elizabeth has used the potty a few times, but she isn't quite ready, it seems.  I've observed that in about everything Elizabeth is a few months behind the average.  The accepted and normal average number of spoken words for a child by their second birthday is fifty.  Although there are a few words she has said only a time or a few times and hasn't said since, the number of her total words that I know to be words is not up to fifty, even a month after her second birthday. But I believe she is absolutely fine.

From an early age she would mimic animals sounds and hum musical tunes that she'd heard perfectly.  Last week in church a friend who was sitting behind me told me afterward that she noticed Elizabeth was trying to sing the words to "Onward Christian Soldiers."  I can't remember whether she was humming the tune or not, but I think she supposedly was mouthing the words. 

I also strongly believe she is analytical and meditative, as I am, and so she may very well choose to simply do more thinking rather than uttering her mind.  She will sit quietly studying something or trying to put something together.  Trust and Liv weren't that way at all.  They have always constantly been moving.

In either case, her words are increasing still, and she shows me in so many other ways that she's developing just fine, so I'm less concerned at this time than I've ever been.  

Here in the past week or so she has taken to climbing up on the couch arm and jumping onto the cushions.  Makes me nervous how she goes about it.  William used to do that, though he was probably three or so, and he had much better balance.  Anyway, sure enough she went over the back somehow one day, and I don't know how she did it or how exactly she landed, as I was in the kitchen, but she ended up being ok.  But today (1/30/14) I caught her three times standing upright on the very back of the couch!!!! Talk about coming close to having a heart attack.  Thankfully each time I got over to her before she lost her balance.  I keep showing to her my alarm and telling her how dangerous it is.  I hope she will get it.  I've got to try to get her to learn how to jump on the rebounder. Otherwise, I'm going to have to strap the monkey pack thing we've got on her and keep her "chained" to me while I'm in the kitchen or elsewhere.  

I was constantly on my toes with Trust and Liv at this age, though, and constantly maxed out with cortisol and frequent adrenaline bursts and such.  I really did think I was going to have a heart attack with those two, as they did CRAZY things constantly.  So even with Elizabeth's newly-found jumping fun, she's truly laid back!

Anyway, language development, more frequent water play, and other such things are the main foci for Elizabeth over the coming months...oh, yeah, and teaching her to jump on the rebounder or in some other safer way.

If all goes well, I'll post my new month post in the next day, and also coming soon is a thematic post on "Sharks and Teeth."  

Until next time...

What We've... (New Moon: Eleventh Month)

It's a new moon. Happy New Month!   What we've done over the past (tenth) month...

What  Periodicals We've Read…

My grandpa used to subscribe the kids to Wild Animal Baby, just as Ranger Rick and Ranger Rick, Jr. (formerly Your Big Backyard).  Over the years, though, I noticed that basically the same material would be repeated in Wild Animal Baby, as in the exact same pictures, so I requested for him to save his money on that one, because I kept all the issues.   I've started reading these to Elizabeth.

We didn't catch up on the others this past month, from when we got behind over the summer, because we've read so many other things.  We got through September. 

What We've Louped and Microscoped…

Various mosses, leaves, dried grasses and spearmint, snail shells, fern.  The moss was my personal favorite to loupe.

What We've Eaten…

From top left to bottom right: Fajitas (we've had both beef and venison); chicken and dressing; taco salad (with various greens); pecan pie (Nathan's Sabbath pick one week); chili with beef and pinto beans and rice (pintos, because we have a huge store of them, and the rice turned out as a delicious addition); cheese pizza and salad; French-fried potatoes, salad, and baked macaroni and cheese (perhaps not the most healthful meal, but I do fry in organic coconut oil); and chocolate mousse (my Sabbath pick).  Should have taken a picture of that delicious meal we had of deer steak, mashed potatoes, white gravy, and green beans.  Nathan loves when I fix that.

Can you tell I've been craving Mexican food?  And chocolate.  But, when do I not want chocolate?  LOL

What We've Watched Outside From Window…

Elizabeth watched the first snowfall while holding her deer toy.

Oh, he's a blur!  I looked outside to check on Jaden William as he restocked the back deck with wood, using his old wagon.  He's an excellent helper, and he's well-compensated for his wood stacking work.

The kids and I enjoyed watching a doe and its fawn from the girls' window one morning.  These deer got to eat in peace, as Nathan had already shot two deer, and I like the ones in our yard to be safe visitors.

I took a lot of pictures of these beautiful animals.  I absolutely love watching wildlife.


What We've Done Outside…

Elizabeth got to go play in the snow!  If I remember correctly, she didn't go out to play in any snow last year. I carried he out in it and talked about it, but I don't think I ever set her down then.

As you can see, she loved it at first.  I knew she'd eventually start crying, but I wondered how long it would take.  Just a few minutes, and sure enough, the joy and happiness abruptly vanished, and she started squalling.  I knew it'd happen, because I've seen it before!  ;-)  Little ones that age just can't take that for long.

Before Elizabeth lost her joy and broke down, I was able to snap some pictures of all the children.  Love these babies!  (Since Olivia wasn't wearing her suit, Elizabeth is wearing it.)

All the kids are wearing their camo attire that their Daddy has bought them over the years, in these pictures.  Nathan and the three oldest threw snowballs at each other.  I just enjoyed watching.  My Love and I are posed in front of the creek.

There's always plenty of chicken-catching going on here.  Plenty of exploring.  Jaden William is going down the creek in the woods, as Elizabeth, Olivia, and I watch.  Trusten stayed behind at the house to play a video game.  But I got a couple great pictures of him another day running across the snow.  Elizabeth got a new wool penguin hat, a gift from my beloved Canadian friend Meg.

We got a new dog!  We've considered a dog for awhile, though over the years while we've had kids, they've never worked out.  I didn't want to train a dog when I've got kids to train.  I wanted a dog who could eat the baby's food that falls (or is intentionally dropped) to the floor, and I wanted a dog that would go in the woods to dump its waste. I also wanted a dog that is easygoing and good around kids.

Well, lately we haven't really looked for a dog that is already trained, because we figured we can't afford one.  But our friend's daughter and husband could no longer keep their dog, and her father-in-law was keeping the dog and took him to the pound.  He had to be rescued, or else he was going to soon euthanized.  So our friend actually paid to get the dog neutered and chipped for us, and we are happy with him!  His name is Atlas, which is ironic, because it's the name of a Greek god, and the last dog I loved, whom I trained myself, was a female boxer whom I'd named Artemis, which is the name of a Greek goddess.  LOL  We're keeping his name as it is.

He's a great dog.  He immediately went across the road in the grown-up pasture to do his business, and he is great around the kids, very quiet and obedient.  He doesn't jump all around when he's inside, nor does he try to hop on the furniture (a no-no in my book).  He runs like crazy with the kids outside.  He's just the kind of dog we'd wanted!


What Else We've Done...

Jaden William helped his daddy skin two deer, and he also ground up meat himself so that he could make jerky.  He cut out all the little rib pieces himself to contribute to jerky meat. There he is flattening pieces in the dehydrator.  We've had two batches of jerky, and it's been good!

This is Jaden William's doing.  He set these places up in his weather on his iPod. These were the closest things he found for all our names.  He calls Elizabeth "Fizzy Chicken," supposedly because Fizzy rhymes with Lizzy (which we usually don't even call her), and she is "sweet like a chicken."  Hahahaha!  Anyway...Fizi Territory is in the Dominican Republic, according to William.  He said, "I typed in 'Fizi Chicken,' but that's all I got that popped up in the search results."

Jaden mixing up flour, salt, and coloring to make a salt map of Israel.

He labeled places we studied, like the Masada and Qumram.

Land brown, bodies of water blue.

Two of his glazed pottery pieces he made in art class, that were glazed before they were supposed to be, as he was still working on details.  I like them a lot, except the paint could be better, but I honestly don't know how well I could even do that myself free-hand.  He uses these these for food and drink.  He's got more things coming, once they're glazed and we get called to pick them up.

Two relatives gave us money, and the girls got more, because they were getting birthday money.  Besides a few things, the above shows what I picked out for Elizabeth.  I got her a different wooden stacker, since she likes the other so well (and she loves this one, too) and a wooden shape sorter.  I got her some neat wooden puzzle boards (five two-sided boards for ten puzzles in all) that use colored shapes to fill in parts of the pictures, a chunky wooden insect puzzle (so cute!), a wooden airplane, a real natural biodegradable rubber frog without any hole (which means no nasty mildew), an Audubon bird that can be pressed to emit the real bird's sound (I chose a red pileated woodpecker, but the choice was difficult!), some books (the ones shown, plus two more), and a drawstring bag of soft colored "shape" bean bags (not pictured).  Elizabeth LOVES birds like her momma does, so hence the bird, airplane, and insect things (because my guess is that she'll love flying machines in general, just like her momma).

I chose several neat books for Olivia, too, including a horse sticker book, the Snowflake Bentley we used with our snow theme, and some nursing books and a book about mothers carrying their babies (since she's so very into mothers and babies).  She also got the ebook Are You My Mother? by Dr. Seuss.  I got her a rubber duck like Elizabeth's frog (not pictured). Then, since she really didn't need any more toys, I bought her spring and summer wardrobe, minus shoes.

So blessed to have been able to get more books for our library (I write the children's names in their books, so they'll have them to pass on to their children), because I'd cleared out around fifty books back in the summer that I no longer wanted, and we were overcrowded.  And so blessed to be able to get Elizabeth those nice educational toys and Olivia's future clothes.  I had cleared out so many neat wooden toys of the boys' a few years ago, because they never cared much for toys, except blocks.  Liv is into toys now but wasn't in earlier years.  Elizabeth is really the first one to seriously sit down and want to use stacking toys and such.  All the others just wanted to jump all around and get into my stuff, especially the middle two!  Actually, William would sit quietly and play, but it was more often with my pots and pans and such than it was his own toys.

Anyway...that's all I'm posting this time!  I had forgotten to add my scripture verses that I used with the kids for the "Snow and Babies" post, but I did go back and add those.

Until next time...

Snow and Babies

As you might have guessed, the topic of babies is another one inspired by Olivia.  As for snow…well, it snowed!  I noticed I keep rhyming (spiders and tea, horses and keys, and now snow and babies), but it hasn't been intentional.  Adds to the fun, though!

From My Fun with Words, Vol. 2: 1978 (Southwestern)

We went out on the snowy days to explore.  We used William's winter fundana to be a guide of things to find in nature.

We found most of the things.

A fall leaf, a green tree, and a green blade of grass

Icicles

Animal tracks above, from top left to bottom right: cat, deer, probably squirrel without claw marks, and chicken).
 

Burrow in ground and squirrel and bird nests (because we didn't go find a hole shelter in tree).
 

Those are of a red-bellied woodpecker (two different days, two different trees, same one that roams a territory) and two tufted titmouses.  I went out a few different times over three days, and the second day I saw a black-capped chickadee in a tree, but it flew away before I could snap a picture, and the kids didn't see it at all, so that square on the fundana had to be substituted.

These had to do on the "red berries."  I'm so happy that I finally this year properly identified the berries in the first picture as coral berries (Symphoricarpos orbiculatus).  The second ones were in a vine up in a tree, and I'm reasonably certain they're "possum grapes" (Cissus trifoliata).

I want to add more berries to our plant binder.  I found that coral berries can be eaten in small quantities and that they are in the honeysuckle family.  They can also be used medicinally.  I need to post a plant identification update soon! 

Making "snow angels" were also listed on the fundana, and the kids always love doing that.

During our trek along the edge of the woods on our property, I was delighted to discover this imprint of a leaf in the snow!

We cut out paper snowflakes.  William remembered how and cut his own.  I had to figure out how again and then showed Trust and Liv.  Then Trusten made his own, while I simply guided him with my words only, and he did a fine job!

He measured, marked, cut and folded.

More folding and cutting.  I should have gotten his child scissors.  But he did fine.

Sweet boy with his finished product. 

My snowflakes are the messed up ones--the two with big open gaps and the circular one at the bottom right.  The boys better knew what they were doing than I did!  Jaden's two are the one at the upper left and the miniature one.

Snowflake Bentley by Jackqueline Briggs Martin and illustrated by Mary Azarian is a new book that was bought for Olivia.  We didn't have any books on snow.  This is a neat little read that talks about a Vermont farmer by the name of Wilson Bentley who loved to study snow.  He's the one who figured out how to take pictures of snowflakes with a camera with a built-in microscope.  He discovered that no two snowflakes are alike.  I'd like to sometime get the actual book that Bentley himself wrote called Snow Crystals.

And then Jaden William made a snow volcano (using vinegar, baking soda, and red coloring), though it didn't turn out as well as the one he made in a past year, featured on Youtube.

Nearly all the snow was already gone.  He'd attempted one the day before, but it was an utter flop, because he'd done something wrong. He insisted on adding some fun to it by stuffing bits of alcohol-soaked paper towels in holes and lighting them.  Ha!

From My Fun with Words, Vol. 1: 1978 (Southwestern)

We reviewed the poster I have hanging in our dining room, that I bought a few years ago but only hung up a few months ago.  It details the various stages of fetal development from conception to full-term.

We read three books about how a baby comes into the world.

 

We've owned all these books for several years.

God Gave Us You by Lisa Tawn Bergren is about a mother polar bear who answers her curious cub's bedtime questions about how she got here and why they love her.  I've always really liked this book overall.  I'm annoyed by the cub saying "borned," because I always find it necessary to explain that is a cub speaking and not the correct grammar.  I also do not like how normal birth is treated like a medical event, with the polar bears rushing to the hospital when the mother bear is in labor, especially since these are animals!  Of course, they also do the typical American thing of going to a male obstetrician, which is something I personally think a male has absolutely no business doing.  But besides these things, we love this book!

Life Before Birth by Gary Parker is an ok book, but it's lengthy, and it's best read to most younger children in daily chapters, though when William was much younger, it held his attention fine. This book explains how DNA starts out with your complete blueprint, and how a fetus develops and is born.  I don't fully agree with everything the book teaches.

Where Willy Went by Nicholas Allan is a humorous tale explaining in a friendly way that a child can understand how a baby is conceived, develops, and is born.  Willy is a sperm who is bad at math but good at swimming.  He wins the swimming race and uses his two maps to navigate from Mr. Browne and into Mrs. Browne to go find the egg.  In the end a little girl named Edna is born, and it turns out that she is bad at math but good at swimming, which hints at that whole DNA blueprint. I like this book, though not everyone would agree to use this with young children.  The only thing that I don't like, besides Willy not turning out to be a male child, is that it shows Willy as the only sperm to touch the egg, when the scientific fact is that it takes millions of sperm to touch the egg in order for it to be fertilized, even though it's only one egg that actually fertilizes the egg.

I got the pregnant and nursing mother doll and her baby when Olivia turned one, after having eyed it for years for whenever I had a girl.  It stays up in my closet, though, and I only get it out for her on rare occasions.  It's been a looong time, and this was the first time that she really got to handle everything seriously.  It's back in my closet now, and she won't get to take it until she gets a little older.

The mother doll has a pregnant belly with a pouch where the birth canal is.  The baby folds up like a fetus normally would inside a mother.  The baby has a placenta and umbilical cord attached.  The cord snaps to the baby's navel.

The baby's mouth is also a snap, as are the mother's nipples.  I love the doll and think it's great for a little girl.

One day the boys went outside for a good while, and the girls and I sat to watch one of my unassisted birthing videos.  It'd been years since I'd watched it.  Olivia was fascinated by the births and loved seeing the babies. She asked plenty of questions.

I needed an excuse to make chocolate mousse, and it wasn't near Sabbath prep day, yet, so I thought, "Aha!  Chocolate mousee pie with a snowflake design made from our little Elyon marshmallows that we use for our hot cocoa.  It may be a bit ugly, but it sure was delicious!  I love chocolate mousse!

Around the time we were doing this theme, a couple of friends of ours welcomed their new baby into the world.  The kids can hardly wait to meet him.  I was able to go see him myself.  :-)  Olivia has been talking about that baby coming for so long, but it will be a bit before she's allowed to see him.

There are a lot of scripture verses in the bible about snow and even more on babies, but I selected a few that I wanted to use to teach the kids certain lessons.  We went over the scriptures on a Sabbath.

Snow Verses

He gives snow like wool: he scatters the hoarfrost like ashes (Psa. 147:16).

Have you entered into the treasures of the snow? or have you seen the treasures of the hail (Job 38:22).

For he said to the snow, Be you on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength (Job 37:6).

As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honor is not seemly for a fool (Prov. 26:1).  (We of course read over this one a lot since we continually read through Proverbs, so the kids were already familiar with it and know the meaning.)

His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire (Rev. 1:14).

His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow (Matt. 28:3).

Baby Verses

And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:41).

And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children (Ex. 2:6)

And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages. And the women took the child, and nursed it (Ex. 2:9).

A woman when she is in travail has sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembers no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world (John 16:21).

Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yes, they may forget, yet will I not forget you (Isa. 49:15).

And they brought to him also infants, that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, and said, Suffer little children to come to me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, Whoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein (Luke 18:15-17).

And as for your nativity, in the day you were born your navel was not cut, neither were you washed in water to supple you; you were not salted at all, nor swaddled at all (Eze. 16:4).  (I also pointed out in my elaboration on this one that it's overall not a good idea to salt a newborn.  I explained the reason(s) why they probably did so then (and some still do), but I also explained that there are alternative ways to care for your baby and that it can be very dangerous to salt an infant.  The main point this verse was making was that of a comparison to an infant not cared for, and their belief then was that salting was good care.)

I will praise you; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are your works; and that my soul knows right well. My substance was not hid from you, when I was made in secret, and curiously worked in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect; and in your book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them (Psa. 139:14-16).

All the verses I selected made for good lessons.

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I've got some other posts coming soon.

Until next time...