We went to our state homeschool conference.  I was only able to attend one lecture.  The presenter spoke about Art and how Christians should not abandon art just because there are artists that are producing art that is not quite Godly (to put it mildly).  I enjoyed the lecture and learned a few things.   I love looking at all the curriculum.  I was able to buy Jeannie Fulbright's Zoology book which fits perfectly with all the bird watching/bird feeding we are doing lately. I picked up a few other things, mostly Dover coloring books. 

I told my sons (7,5) that all of the families that were at the conventions were homeschoolers and quite a few of them were Christians.  They were very surprised to see so many of us!  That is one of my favorite things about Homeschool Conferences is just enjoying the moment...we are all Homeschooling!

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We took the kids to Irish Folk dancing which was A LOT of fun!  It was mostly older people so when a bunch of homeschoolers showed up-they were most certainly happy!  My oldest son (7) did really really well.  He did all the steps and clearly enjoyed himself!  Son (5) liked it.  Daughter (3) mostly stayed with mommy and did get up there when there was some kind of twirling waltz.  She had on a skirt that looks nice when you spin...so she wanted to do anything that involved twirling so her dress could "look like a flower".  I mostly stayed with the baby.  I'm a TERRIBLE dancer and really don't enjoy it either.  I am not graceful and have no sense of rythmn either.  My husband danced with kids and he said it was quite a work-out. 

Mother's Day was nice.  I got a nice diamond cross necklace and some cake etc.  The kids were so excited-they just love a party!

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I was just reading that prayer and was feeling so sad about the loss of my mother when my daughter (3) popped into the room carrying a gift bag.  She climbed on the bed next to me and said "Happy Mother's Day!!!!".  She didn't realize that tomorrow is Mother's Day.  She handed me the gift bag and said "thanks for giving me my baby sister".   I opened the gift bag and inside were a whole bunch of handmade cards from my kids. 

A few mintues later the boys came tearing into my room yelling that tomorrow is Mother's Day and my daughter (3) gave me the gift bag on the wrong day.  She felt bad and the boys were upset. 

I explained to them that she actually gave me exactly what I needed at exactly the right moment.

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I miss you.  You gave me life. You were my protector, my teacher, my mentor, my moral compass, my comfort.  I feel so alone without you.  No one worried about me the way you did.  No one loves me the way you did.

Please forgive me for the times I caused you pain and for the times I took you for granted.  I can't begin to fathom all the scarifices you made for my sake.

I want to thank you for all the ways you blessed my life.  Nothing can replace the gaping hole your death has left in my life.  But mixed together with all my sadness there is a great joy for having known you.

I will remember your smile, your touch. I will remember your laughter, your kindness, your generosity, your determination, your love.

Thank you for the time we shared, for the love you gave, for the wisdom you spread.  I will always treasure the lessons you taught me.  I will carry them with me all the days of my life.  I am so proud to be your child.

Mayb God watch over you and bless you with gentleness and love.  As you blessed me.

~Amen~

*Talking to God by Naomi Levy

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Our farm class took the boys to a horse farm.  I have never been to real horse farm that has horses that race and show etc.  I was surprised at how immaculately clean and organized it was.  There are horse farms everywhere here and we live right by one of the biggest horse areas in this state. Going to the supermarket often means following behind a horse trailor going very slowly on a long road.   The boys got to practice grooming the horses and did some "horse chores".  They were really excited and learned some completely new things!   

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The music of my baby daughter's first laugh filed the air today!  All the kids heard it too.  How sweet is that????

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Yaah! We finally made it to the Zoo!  I finally got to see my New York friend (Dominique, you are famous!) who I have not seen in 11 months since moving and having the baby. And of course the kids got to visit too. 

We saw a whole bunch of animals and took some pictures...did the standard zoo stuff.  We missed the Gorillas because you could not take the strollers and we decided that we didn't want to carry the children just to see some apes. 

We also could not take the strollers to see the tigers which disppointed son (5) but what can you do?  I think we did really well taking 7 children to the zoo (including one infant).  No one got lost, no one got hurt and they all had a nice time.  Dominique even had her daughter taking pictures just to give it that nice "educational" touch!  I wasn't that educational.  

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Just when you thought you couldn't have enough family fun...I decided to have a picnic at the beautiful park about 20 miles away from our home.  Where do I begin?  We pack up some food, badmitton set and all the blanket.  Four kids in the truck and we are off!  We arrive safely and find a scenic place to sit in this 324 acre park.  We unpack and start to eat our lunch.  The baby is snoozing nicely.  All is well.  UNTIL the local high school track team decides to exercise about 20 feet from us.  The girls are wearing what is known as "booty shorts" and a bra tank top.  My son (5) says "wow, you can really look up their shorts"   He is my opinionated child.  He is concerned that the teens are not wearing enough clothing.  Funny, I'm haivng the same concern.  The baby wakes up.  The girls start doing cartwheels. .  I turn the boys around away from the "show" and decided to nurse the baby. Maybe they will do their stretches and jog away???  NO, not a chance.  What was I thinking? They are now going to practice sprinting right near us in this 324 acre park that is pretty empty.    So, we pack up and decided to take a nature walk (which consists of me yelling at son (5) to be careful not to fall into the lake).  We return back to where the girls are and they are starting to leave.  We try it again with the blanket and all of our stuff.  Within about 10 mintues my son (5) who never is still decides he doesn't want to play badmitton and is "bored".  I encourage him to play with his brother but he wants no part of it.  My older son (7) informs me that he hit the birdie thing into the tree and it's stuck.  He feels the need to YELL this information to me and wakes up the baby.  The baby cries, of course.  I get up to check out the birdie thing situation and ntoice my daughter (3) is holding herself.  She tells me she has to use the bathroom.  There is no bathroom close by and we can't walk that far.  She has an "accident".  Ok, we pack up everything and jump in the truck-heading home.  Not so fast.  We try to take a short cut to go around the rush hour jam-up on the main road and land up going about 20 miles out of our way.  We don't get lost but clearly that was not a direct route.  It looked good on the map.  I unload everyone from the truck and notice that the baby has "exploded" out of her diaper.  Now I have two girls in poopy pants. Oh, and I forgot to set up the crockpot.  Now we don't even have dinner.   My husband called and wanted to know how the picnic went.

Enough family fun for one day.

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We went over to a local park that has a "living history farm" on its grounds.  Today they did some sheep shearing and sheep dogs did sheep herding.  My son (5) has a favorite animal and it is SHEEP.  He loves sheep and always has...since he was a little guy.  So, we saw the sheep get a haircut and watched the sheep dogs do their job. My baby clearly had her guardian angel on duty today.  I was holding her and all of a sudden a rock grazed the side of her head.  Some little boy decided to throw a rock; his mother was very apologetic and concerned.  It was a little boy and every child has done something crazy like that...I'm just so grateful it didn't hit her in the head hard or in her eye.  Thank You God. 

We then took a long walk around a huge pond.  The boys were in their glory running around and discovering things. They think they found a beaver dam.  I have no idea because I don't know anything about beavers but if they are happy with their discovery-let them have their fun.   It is so true about boys-they need motion and they love to explore.  My daughter (3) was having fun but not as much as the boys.  A few times I thought son (5) was going to fall into the pond but he managed to stay on dry land.  He did take a couple of bad falls on the gravel but that didn't slow him down.

We are working on making a nice garden on the side of the patio but can't fit all the plants we need into the Subruban in one trip.  So, my husband will be stopped for a few more platns on his way home from work today.  We are planting Welgia, which is supposed to be a good screen-privacy type of plant.  I have no idea but nothing ventured-nothing gained.    I'd like to grow some herbs but I'm afraid of the deer getting the nibbles and eating my plants.  Maybe I can grow them inside?  Ok, time to end this not ebecause the baby needs some attention from her mommy.

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Being the third child has its advantages.  My daughter (almost 4) was bugging me to spell her brothers names for her.  I told her they are long names but she told me "mommy, do it one letter at a time" with that very serrious face she makes.  OK, fine.  Just to keep her quiet I dictated the spelling.  Guess what?  The child can write!   The letters were neat and well formed.  I guess she really does listen and watch everything that her brothers do during school.   

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Easter went well.  We did an egg hunt with the kids and they found all the eggs pretty qucikly...I think they have been practicing.   My mother-in-law came over and she got to spend some time with kids.  She has not been here for about 7 months so she got to see all the nice improvements we have made on the house. She really liked the kitchen island (so do I!).   I never got around to dying Easter eggs or doing the Resurrection eggs.  I guess with a new baby the time just goes by so quickly.   

We have been doing school this week in order to catch up from the time missed from my C-section recovery.  My son (7) is doing so well with his reading and my son (5) is just starting Phonics Pathways.  I'd like him to read so he can enterain himself.  he is a bright child and always looking for something to do.  When you can read-you can always find something to do!

I finally found my Laurel Harp and Wreath poetry book which has been missing for a few months.  (It was hiding in the car my husband uses for work-very weird)  Anyway, my son (7) enjoyed reading some poems with me.  Maybe it was better than I didn't shove poetry down his throat and let him develop a little before I introduced it.  After we finsihed up with a few poems he asked me to read "the Bible verse about the shepard".  I knew he meant the 23rd Psalm.  I was so happy that he remembered that passage from a while back!    Sometimes you wonder WHAT kids remember and then you get these really exciting moments!  I also had the pleasure of explaining the 23rd Psalm to him and how it was read at my mother's funeral (he was too young to remember that).  I showed him the roses that I saved from the floral arrangment and pressed in my Bible on the page of Psalm 23.  He was really interested in that.  That is one of the things that I adore about my son (7)  that he is so senstive and deep.  He really enjoyed seeing that and hearing me talk about the flowers at my mother's funeral.  It meant something to him.  His name means "A gift from God" and his gentle soul shows that when I talk about my mother.  It's like he feels my joy and feels my sadness.  A lot of emotion for such a young child.  I know God is going to use that quality.

On a lighter note, my son's tulips have bloomed! Unfortunately the deer have found a little snack for themselves.   Son (7) went out in the early morning to check his flower's progress and some of them were missing.  There were hoof prints in the flower garden too.  My son was quite upset.  So, off to Wal-Mart to find some sort of supplies to build a littel cage for them.  I found some stuff, forty dollars later, and my husband surrounded the flowers with a vinyl fence type thing.  So, the flowers are safe!  It's not as much fun as seeing them blow in the breeze but at least they are not deer nibbles!

The baby has found her thumb and now sucks her thumb and plays with her hair!  I love when they do that.  It's so sweet.  I could watch her do that for hours-just looking at her little face. 

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Today the boys went to a new Homeschool gardening/farming class!  I'm so happy that we found a class like that. My son (7) went to a class like that in NY and LOVED it.  Anyway, this class is not far from our house either.  The boys were outside on the farm for 2 hours learning all about planting.  They will be doing all sorts of planting and farming activities in the next few weeks.  My son (7) loves anything to do with planting. My son (5) can "take it or leave it" but I am hoping that this class will help cultivate a love of nature. 

My daughter (3) had to wait the entire time with me.  We looked at the farm animals and fed some sheep.  It is a really sweet place but two hours to wait is a bit long.  There is really nothing to drive to as it is pretty far into the farm lands.  My husband  watched the baby today during the first class.  It was really nice to talk to the other homeschooling mothers without having my son (5) talking in my ear or the baby crying.    Not really too sure how we are going to manage waiting for two hours with a 3 year old and a cranky infant, however, we will manage. I'm staring to get the idea that part of being a homeschooling family is waiting around while one of the kids is at a class etc. 

Aside from the waiting...I'm so excited that the kids were outside in the fresh air, playing with other kids and doing "nature" things.   This is the stuff that makes homeschooling wonderful!  The hands-on activities that they get to do rather than learn stuff from a dry textbook.    

They LEARN and they learn joyfully.  The boys were glowing today sharing all they learned about plants.  The ride home was non stop chatter about plants.   I'm a happy homeschooling mom!

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Ok, not the most creative title for this entry but I'm tired of being creative at the moment.  Today I impulsively decided to study some of the miracles of Jesus in preparation for Easter.  I grabbed my Tomie DePaola book The Miracles of Jesus off of the book shelf and read a few stories.  All three kids were totally fascinated and asked me to read more!  We read a few more of the stories and then I did some narration work with my oldest son (7).  For some crazy reason, I decided that the story where Jesus instructs the disciples to cast the nets (after a night of no fish) and the nets are suddenly overflowing with fish would make a good play.  So, instead of my plan for the day...we started making fish, nets and a boat.  I went over the components of a play such as the actors, set desginers, narrator, costume designer etc.  We discussed plots, setting, characters etc.  My oldest son then dictated to me (and I typed) the dialogue for the play.  It turned out to be about 5 lines with the narrator (me!) helping to explain the story.  Son (7) was Simon, son (5) was Jesus, daughter (3) was John & James and the baby was the fish (we taped some paper fish to her car seat thingy). We used a few props such a paper fish, a laundry basket and some pretend water.  The kids have been rehersing all day for their "performance" this evening.  My son (7) has been writing his little heart out-making notes and such.  He is practicing his handwriting without him even knowing it. So far, this has been a very creative and educational day.  In addition, we managed to do some math, spelling and history.  The baby has been very content and calm today which is the main reason that everyone has gotten so much done.  

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We finally made our history timeline.  We are using Mystery of History and some kind person posted that there is a yahoo group for MoH.  So, I joined that group and in the "files" section there are all the figures I need for my timeline!!!   That has been the hold-up on the whole project...where am I going to find all of these clip art things??  I know you can buy them somewhere but I never got around to that either.  The whole project just seemed very overwhleming to me.  So, I was more than excited  to find all the figures I needed to get this thing going.  I printed the figures and my son colored them.  I laminated them and put velcro on the back of them.  I bought a "project display board" at Staples for about $10 which was waaaaay easier than attempting to make one myself.  I put velcro lines across the display board and my son stuck the figures on.  It took about 2 hours or less and it looks really really nice.  I am so thrilled because I have been meaning to do this forever.

We also have our flowers growing in our flower garden.   When we moved to this house we planted bulbs hoping to see some flowers in the srping. It worked!  It's funny to see the flowers now; I remember how pregnant and horrible I felt trying to explain to two boys how to dig holes and how to put the bulbs in.  Seems like a long time ago.  Now we have nice flowers and a beautiful healthy  who is two months old now!

Speaking of my little baby, I forgot to post that at exactly 2 months of age, she found her thumb and has been happily sucking it ever since!  She is a "boo-hoo" baby and spends most of her day crying...particularly after 3pm or when I'm really trying to clean something or cook something.    (The crying is getting better each week but she still is a high need baby).  So, the idea of her actually being able to soothe herself is a very good thing! My oldest son sucked his thumb and my daughter (3) still sucks her thumb.  Some times I find the baby and my daughter (3) sucking their thumbs together on the bed! 

My son (7) bought himself a bike with the money he earned from a few months of chores (it was an inexpensive bike and I pay well for mopping/cleaning the bathrooms!).  He completely outgrew his old bike and now my other son (5) has a new bike to practice on.  Anyway, my son (7) still cannot ride a two wheeler but that is OK.  He takes his time with those "athletic" types of things and then does fine when he is ready. I've learned to give him his space and let him do things at his own pace.   He is so tall that the size bike he needs does not come with training wheels...we had to buy them separately and put them on.  So, my son (7) got his first lesson in working, earning money and being able to buy something that you really love!

Have a blessed day!

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I have been cleaning for days it seems and just when I get one room cleaned up...something else is a mess.  It is like shoveling snow in a snowstorm.  If anyone is interested, I have entirely too many Tupperware containers (and imitation Tupperware).  WHY did I buy all of these???  I don't even like leftovers!  I have them all spread out on the dinning room table and am trying to think of creative things to do with them.  Maybe I can use them for some school related things?  Crayons, paper clips, etc.

I am going to try using a tight schedule for the unpcoming week.  It occured to me the other day that son #2 will be in first grade in Septemeber.  I knew that but I didn't really think about it in terms of scheduling and getting things done.  It is hard enough as it is and now I will have a first grader too??? Add in a pre-K and an infant and I think I had better get working on my MOTH schedule.  I've tried it before but that was when I had only two kids-the motivation wasn't quite there.  Now my motivation is desperation! 

My husband called from the road and asked what is for dinner.  I told him any meal that does not requite me to move all of my Tupperware in order to eat it.  We will be making sandwiches.    

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We went to the wholesale club near our house.  I had two FULL carts and a baby stroller.  I cannot tell you how many people stared at us.  I found it kinda funny that four kids is so shocking.  Well, maybe it was the four kids, the stroller and the two overflowing carts that was a bit unusual.  Anyhow, I was so proud of us that we managed it all, loaded the truck and unloaded it all at home.  The kids were truly excellent for the entire shopping trip.  I was just thinking how this went smoother than I could've ever imagined and I hear a big scream and then crying.  My oldest dropped a gallon of milk on the floor and the impact caused the top to blow off.  Milk sprayed everywhere in addition to making a huge puddle on the floor.    Believe it or not, I was very calm and just got the mop.  The situation turned from bad to worse when I realized that the huge milk puddle was in front of the sink and I needed to wade through the milk to actually use the sink!    The clean-up wasn't as bad as I thought and the floor probably needed to be mopped anyway. 

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We finally made it to the Museum of Natural History!  I did not take the baby along-she hung out with Daddy.  We have been studying Egypt and seeing the African exhibit is exactly what we needed.  So, on the way home from the pediatrician-we made a quick stop. 

That museum is certainly not my favorite because it is all about evolution and I get tired of explaining "this is what other people believe and this is what we believe".    But, seeing some Egyptian artifacts certainly brought some life to history!  And, of course, we saw the dinosaur bones!  The boys loved that.  My daughter got tired of walking and sucked her thumb while dragging herself along.  I didn't plan ahead that she might be frightened by the African masks and costumes etc.  She got a little alarmed but I was able to explain it to her.  She didn't bring it up again so I think she is O.K.

We also were able to go down in the subway and see some trains which the kids found to be thrilling. 

We really had such a nice time...I just feel so educational!!! 

Oh how could I forget?  We saw The Little Red Lighthouse from our Five in a Row book The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge.  Ok, well we saw it from the highway.  When it is winter and the trees are bare-you can spot it.  I had no idea it was so small.  I know the title of the book is "little" but it is teeny weeny tiny. 

On the way home, we stopped for lunch.  We put the kids (not the baby of course) at a separate table and my husband and I were able to eat without the constant chit-chat of the kids.     The bonus was that the baby fell asleep!  The kids had a blast sitting by themselves and were laughing and fooling around with eachother.  It was nice to see them enjoying eachother's company.

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Just when I thought everyone was better...thought wrong.  Some kind of stomach virus hit the kids right after that flu thing.  Once again, the baby did not get sick!  Praise God!

So, we are back on track again.  Yesterday we made some amazing pizza as an activity for Little Nino's Pizzeria.  This is the first time I have actually cooked with the kids and it didn't turn into a circus (or me loosing my temper).  The pizza turned out remarkably well!  I really enjoyed it.  We did a lot of school yesterday-we have fallen behind-between the bed rest, the C-section and then almost 3 weeks of illness.  I'm starting to do narrations with my oldest except that as he narrates I am typing it.  He did two narrations. I helped him make one of them more "correct and proper" and the other one-I let him have fun documenting his thoughts in whatever words he chose.  He LOVED it and asked me today to do more!  Guess I have a hit!  He needs to work more on his actual handwriting.  We are doing well with math and reading though.

We went to the library and took out some books for our study of Italy and China.  Usually the kids are not the best behaved in the library-they aren't terrible-but I'd like them to be a little more orderly.  Today, I was very firm and very specific about their behavior-especially with the 5 year old.  It was a very easy trip.   I was especially happy with how the 7 year old helped me with the baby without even being asked.  I get so overwhlemed when they act up-I think I just overload and get cranky.  Today, I kept my cool. Even with a screaming baby-I was calm, cool and collected.  I just have to be like that more often. Easier said than done.

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Finally we have some gorgeous spring weather.  I actually like the winter but the more children I have-the more I think the spring and fall are really great for the kids.  Everyone was able to go outside and play and just enjoy the sunshine.  I took the baby outside and she got some fresh air-probably the first time as she is a winter baby.  She wasn't too fond of the sun on her face though.

I was writing yesterday about how much school we accomplished and how great I was feeling about that when the lights went out suddenly.  Four children start screaming and I'm on the other side of the house in complete darkness.  Of course, it's so dark, I can't find a flashlight.  We are out in a more rural part of the state and when it's dark-it's really dark!  In a few minutes the lights did go back on but it was actually pretty scary.    Everyone was pretty shook up.  I also discovered the flashlights were on top of the refrigerator-which I need a stool to climb up there.  Probably not the best location in an emergency. 

I did some spring cleaning today while the kids played.  School will be done in the evening-we don't want to miss the opportunity to play outside after being in all winter.    We did not go to our homeschool art class as my daughter still has a cough and I really don't want to share that with anyone.  We have been in with illness (I think it was the flu) for almost 14 days.  Next week, I think we can resume our usual schedule!

I made some really excellent minestrone soup last night.  It yielded a lot so I think we will be eating soup for a while.

I also stopped over to my friend's house and she gave me bags and bags of baby clothes.  That was fun-sorting through it all.  I just love little girls!!!!!

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The kids are finally feeling better.  They still have a bad cough but much better than before.  Today we tested out walking in our new neighborhood.   This is the first place that we have lived that has really nice sidewalks.  I bundled the kids up and off we went!  We even took the dog.  We walked about a mile.  If we walk up to the main road it will be about 2 miles round trip.  I'd like to be able to do that but my daughter gets tired.  I have a nice double stroller but the baby     needs to be a bit bigger to sit in there.  Looking forward to some nice spring weather!   But right now I have a little bit of these things to do:

  and .    

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