Attempt Number Two

I am going to try to recreate our missing year in a few quick posts.
I am not the kind of person to have a blog.
That has probably become obvious with my erratic posts.

But I miss a few blogs I used to read. They inspire and remind me why I do, what I do. Also, I miss keeping track of our life. Something beautiful is captured when I blog our days. I see the grace where I otherwise see lists done and undone. So here is our year in review.

Sally my sponsor and all around wonderful lady made this Easter treat for my children. It is a doll with a hard boiled egg inside. I can't remember the name of it.

What did my children think of it?

That would be three thumbs up.

During this time baby number four was busy growing and getting ready for her big debut.
Morning sickness does not fit what women really go through.
Thank you April for your advice. I talked with Ann my midwife, and the pills really helped.

We're Back...........

After a very long break I am back on the web. A lot has happened in the last forty days. The kids and I were baptized at the Eater Vigil and Craig and I were confirmed. It was so beautiful. I hope to have pictures up soon.

Also our family is eagerly anticipating a fourth child sometime in early December. We are having trouble coming up with boys names so if anyone has ideas please share them. For those of you that heard we were house shopping, we have decided to renovate our house instead.

Thought of the week.

Anger bites the hand that feeds it: us.

- Ann Voskamp

Wowzers

We got back from Regina last night and we had so much fun. But I will post about that later. For now I wanted to post this picture.

Evan received Pokemon coloring pages for Christmas and has been coloring and cutting them out all week. He is very proud of them and so he should be. As you can see they are adorable. Then the other day I saw this drawing Mikayla made of one of them. I was impressed, especially with the facial expression.

Making an effort to grow.

I have been growing spiritually over the past year. I do not usually mention this because my faith is new. I feel the need to protect it, for it is too precious to treat carelessly. Often I will read a blog and it will speak to me. I don't want to forget the truth that these posts brought, but my memory is not the greatest. In an effort not to lose what I have found I am going to link my favorite post of the week. Something that speaks to me spiritually. My link today is to a post on patience/gratitude. It has made me take a deeper look at my life and realize that I have so much to be grateful for.

First Day on the Job

The windchill was -45 and their paper route is long, but take a look at their proud faces.
Who could ask for more.

Meet Claire

I have wanted to make room in my life for more I that love. In my quest I stumbled on Dawn's file crate system. I am searching for a way to organize my thoughts, plans and responsibilities. I spend far too much time planning and re-planning my days. I believe that I may have found a system that will work for me. But despite the impression I may give, I am not one to jump into something. After pondering the idea I mentioned it to Sarah, lo and behold she had been thinking of trying the very same thing. Inspired we headed out to Staples. A few days later my kids wanted a playdate with her kids, giving us the perfect opportunity to compare our file crates and share ideas.


Isn't my file crate cute? I have grown quite fond of her.
So I decided to give her a name, meet Claire.
(a.k.a. "Claire" from the Rheostatics)
There is a line in that song
"let me see you save a mind that isn't there.....".
I feel that sums up my hopes.



Anyway, I wondered onto Sarah's blog the other day. She posted about our crate's playdate.
She has come up with many great ways to use her system. I may have to steal some of her ideas. So far I have used Claire to tame the paper clutter beast I created in the last five years. I own two address books but I could never find an address when I needed one. Now I will have one address book and it has a home.

I have made myself a weekly planner. This has already saved me from forgetting to renew my license, and it gives me peace of mind to know that everyone's birthday and anniversary is right there where I can not lose it. Just this afternoon I jotted down our confirmation # for the hotel in Regina. I don't need to think about it again I'll know where it is when I need it.

I also created a household binder. So far it holds my weekly menu plans, the recipes for each week, and all our contacts. It will eventually keep my daily, weekly and seasonal chores, our homeschool schedual, the kids chore charts, and gift ideas as well.

I have a daily clip board where currently holds today's recipes, history handouts, a science experiment, a french game and a todo list for the day.

I have used my file crate to place things to sort for the weeks to come. Homeschool ideas for next month have been thrown into the last folder of this month. The front ideas folder of this month holds two sheets for the Precambrian Period, we were studying this but decided to put it on hold while we focused on magnetism. There is a slip with a web site I need to check into before the kids doctors appointment on the January 27th, as well as a few sheets on attachment parenting. I have wanted to turn my rambling thoughts from the parenting course I took into a few words of inspiration. I intend to print these inspiration thoughts and put them up to remind me through the day.



As unwieldy as my system may seem it has already given me peace of mind. I don't have to remember everything I have Claire to take care of that ; )

Obsessed

Hey Rosetta

Hair on Fire!

So I was listening to Stewart McLean's Vinyl Cafe on CBC last night. All the people that helped to produce the show had the chance to share embarrassing stories of Stewart and a song they love. I wish I could remember who recommended the song New Goodbye by Hey Rosetta, but she said it was so good that by the end she wanted to light her hair on fire. I concur.

Click on the Music button and then on the song New Goodbye.

Go have a listen ; )

P.S. It is more flame producing if you read the lyrics.

Blinded by Science

Today was the first week back after a three week hiatus.
The kids were so excited about the treasure hunt I had planned for the afternoon.

Mikayla and Aidan got right to work and finished all their homeschooling in the morning.
Evan was great once I remembered that he can only hold one direction in his head at once.

I was going to send the kids outside after lunch but then I read Cheryl's blog about the -50 windchill.

No I am not exaggerating. We were the coldest place on the planet this morning. Yay us!

What do you do when the windchill is below -50?



We have a treasure hunt. Sarah told me about one she had a few weeks ago and I thought it would be a great way to introduce our science kits.

This week is magnetism.



We did three experiments and then each of the kids read.
They loved it.

Menu Fun

I have been making weekly menus for a while, I find that they make my life much easier.

Then I thought why not post them. If I put them up here they are easy for me to change and I can not lose them.

Week 1


Breakfast

1. oatmeal and jam
2. oatmeal and frozen berries with yogurt
   
3. cereal
4. instant flavoured oatmeal for kids

Lunch

1. homemade chicken and rice soup
2. healthy greak salad on pitas
3. vegetable soup and toast
4. eggsalad sandwiches veggies and dip

Supper

1. honey baked lentils and brown rice, fruit for dessert
2. spaghetti sauce on whole wheat noodles with large salad
3. roast chicken with rosemary potato wedges and corn
4. meatloaf, baked potatoes and carrots
5. homemade pizza on pitas and salad

Week 2


Breakfast

1. oatmeal and jam
2. oatmeal and frozen berries with yogurt
   
3. cereal
4. instant flavoured oatmeal for kids

Lunch

1. chickpea couscous salad
2. beef barley soup
3. split pea and barley soup with fruit
4. eggsalad sandwiches and fruit
   

Supper

1. roast, baked potaoes and corn
2. chick pea orzo pilaf and fruit
3. chicken stirfry
   
4. meatloaf, mashed potatoes and corn
   
5. homemade pizza pitas with salad

Week 3


Breakfast

1. oatmeal and jam
2. oatmeal and frozen berries with yogurt
   
3. cereal
4. instant flavoured oatmeal for kids

Lunch

1. package soup mix
   
2. eggsalad sandwiches and fruit
3. beef vegetable soup
4. vegetable soup

Supper

1. orange ginger pork with brown rice
2. Silvia's chicken on noodles
3. eggs and potato wedges with fruit
4. spaghetti and salad
   
5. homemade pita pizzas and salad

It is almost time...............

Monday we start homeschooling again.


So here is the plan.................

Monday through Thursday

Mornings will begin with a reading, I got a great book for Christmas.

Then the kids will start their morning lessons.
I made each of them an index card of what needs to be done.
This works really well, the kids like the freedom and I like that I can focus on one child at a time. I arrange their lessons so that know one needs me or the computer at the same time.
Then the kids head outside while I make lunch.

In the afternoon we have a few options depending on our interests.

1. art lessons / art history
2. Real-Science-4-Kids
3. jogging
4. history (currently we are studying the Precambrian Period)
5. science experiments
   
6. IEW

Fridays

Reading/Poetry(with sugary tea)
Nature Study Field Trip
Library

History at Sarah's
Homeschool Group

Well that all folks!

I just need to remember my priorities.

Homeschool should aid our growth individually and as family.

If I focus on our to do lists I miss the point.

Hello Again!

I have a dilemma. I blog from my photos and my camera needs new batteries, so I have not been blogging. I will attempt a photo free blog, even though I don't know what the heck I am going to talk about.

First off the reason for the post was Sarah wanted the felt play mats link. Cheryl pointed out that LaPaz's blog has a version of felted play mats. They are quite adorable so here is the link to her playmats. I hope you all enjoy them as much as I did. This coming week is dedicated to Christmas crafting , helping others and getting the house ready for Christmas. Perhaps I will get a few playmats done then.

Today the homeschoolers met at the skating oval and it was beautiful. I was surprised how quickly the kids regained there skating legs. We were there for over an hour before my toes started to freeze (which for December is awesome). The kids were warm and could have kept skating for at least another hour.

This Sunday is the homeschooler's Christmas Tea. Everyone had such a good time last year. The kids have been practicing their poems. I said that I would bring a craft and I think I will bring bookmark supplies. But if anyone knows a great children's craft let me know.

This Tuesday we will be heading out to Souris to help my niece get her house ready to sell. She said to not worry about it till after the Christmas Season. But when you think about it, there isn't a better thing we could be doing than helping someone out. So this year our Christmas cookies will be purchased and our home will not be picture perfect (far from it). But our coffee will be Free Trade, our gifts (mostly) homemade and we will make time to appreciate the people we love. It works for us, and that is what matters most.

I hope you find time to enjoy each day this Advent.

P.S. Even if it is ice cube toes and frozen fingers!

P.P.S. If my post is scattered I do apologize, and I will try to purchase batteries this weekend : )

Craft Night Bliss

I was made aware of a serious omission on my part. When I was mentioning what was beautiful yesterday, I failed to mention the amazing group of ladies coming over. Last night I hosted our weekly craft night. It was lovely. Friends bonding over knitting and card making. I believe there might have even been singing. We were only drinking tea or coffee, but a group of mothers out late with only grown ups to talk to ........ well we can get a little giddy. So to the great ladies that I failed to include in my post, you too were a big part of yesterday's beauty ; )

And Back To Our Regularly Scheduled Program

After a week of crafting we were already to get back to normal. The kids got so much done! Their Christmas crafts are almost complete. I was not as efficient with my time, but two of three children are now sporting beautiful toques.

This morning we completed our book and computer work, had our lunch, and then headed outside for nature study. The weather was beautiful. At first Evan claimed that there is no nature in winter, and then we went outside and discovered for ourselves. Evan was the one to spot an abandoned bee hive. The bottom had broken off and you could see the honeycomb. We observed the color of snow in sunlight and in shadow, made numerous fake animal prints, and spotted some real ones, we felt the inside of a tree where the bark had separated. We listened to black-capped chickadees that a couple we met on our walk identified it for us. We sat in our favorite spot to draw, which wasn't as private now that it has lost its leaves. Then we headed back home. Now the meatloaf is cooking, the kids have wandered off to play, and I am recording what was beautiful in our day. I hope everyone else has had a great day!

Advent

I corrected the first link, it now links to all her advent ideas.

Well I am looking into ways to celebrate Advent with the kids this year and found a great resource at By Sun and Candlelight. She rocks! So instead of not knowing what to do, now I have to choose what I want to do most. She has great ideas here and here as well. But if anyone else has favorite Advent traditions please pass them along.

Christmas Crafting Week!

Well we have started are Christmas craft week off with a resounding bang a.k.a.(puttering around making tea and plans). Some craft ideas are well on their way, while others were put on hold. The kids dreamed up new plans and couldn't wait to start them. If the rest of the week is as productive (and exciting) as today we will want to do this again very soon : )

We would show you more but well you know.....................

In your face snow!

It is cold outside. Yes the snow glitters in the sun bla, bla ,bla.... but it is also cold, and we are sick. So today I had a show down with the outwear clothing stores in Brandon. I would not give up, my children would have warm coats and ski pants by the end of the day. Winners saved the day. Thank you Winners for carrying warm outerwear. So now we will be prepared to face the cold, as soon as I find touques, mitts and scarves....... But fear not I have a basement full of them. For anyone else not yet ready for the cold, head to Winners and you too can be a winner in the quest for outerwear ;)

Felt Landscapes

The kids are sick today, so I have decided to make it a story/craft day. While the kids are reading and building block towers I thought that I would post the link to the felted jungle. We are thinking of doing these for Christmas gifts.

P. S. I was just surfing and stumbled on yarn balls as well. I think that we will have to try this to.

I hope that everyone is having a great day!

Boy Digs Hole

That's my boy.
M and A are sick today. So after a morning of learning they curled up to listen to Jim Weiss will E headed outside to play. Oh, to see through the eyes of a child again.