Oct. 10, 2008
time with my middle child
Posted in family life
I have always felt very strongly about each child's individuality, and getting to know them on that level. I think I have done that, but as you would expect......the middle child is the one I feel gets overlooked the most. Today I did a far too rare thing. Said middle child begged earlier in the week to cook dinner.......he wants to be a chef when he grows up......so we went to the store and bought his ingredients. We are having whole roast chickens, roasted vegetables and mashed potatoes. And I think some herb biscuits. He is cooking it without my help, though he is letting his three year old brother help him. What a guy.  Anyway, it was great to spend some time alone with this young man. He is smart, and interesting, and eager to please. He tends to get overloaded quickly and so some of my conversations with him during the day are not the most pleasant, all about not fighting and not being bossy. That causes me to sometimes overlook his gifts. He is conscientious, hard working, thoughtful, friendly and engaging. He laughs at my jokes. That is a rare gift, lol. And quirky too, which is always a plus in my book. He is obsessed with penguins. Penguins of all things. It started out with birds, any birds but two years ago, he settled on penguins. Especially emperor penguins. I asked him why and he said "why not? they are the coolest...have you ever seen them run?". lol Whatever. He is eleven now and already showing a sense of responsibility and compassion that impress me. Next year he will receive the Priesthood and I am looking forward to seeing him take on that challenge. What a guy. |
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Oct. 4, 2008
what I did this week
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Lesson learned for the hundredth time in my life, lol, every day has its ebbs and flows but taken together, add up to something good. So what I have done over the week...... We have been reading our book The Island of the Blue Dolphins. Half done and something we all look forward to. Well, not Sarah, but she listens anyway. lol I have been deep cleaning my kitchen this week, as my project. I have a couple more things to do today, but it feels great to have this done. I am even cooking more, all day. Trying to decide which room to tackle next week! They all need it so badly, lol. We had the missionaries over again this week. Apparently they have been low on dinner appointments. I certainly hope when my boys go out, there are women who will take them in and feed them. Simple this week though......homemade spaghetti and garlic bread. We had a bike ride up and down the street with the youngest three. Usually they are just allowed to ride up and down our long driveway, but I decided to break free, lol and take them down the road. Oiy! It was a bit of a headache, trying to teach them to ride single file along the edge of the road, not run over Mom as she walked along side, not stop suddenly, not bump into the person ahead when they were not going as fast as they should, and get over in the grass when a car comes. But! I think after a couple more times of this, we will have some fun evening walks/rides around the block. They had fun even if Mom was sick of the sound of her own voice by the time we got back home. We made lemonade and read our book and I was glad we had gone.......and come back. I cleaned our bookshelves and organized some books and found several that had been "lost". Now that all the picture books are on one shelf, I have been brought books at all times of the day. Lots of reading going on, which makes me happy. I am glad I have at least eight children who love books. (One who loves to write books, not so crazy about reading other's efforts though, lol). This weekend is our General Conference, where the church leaders meet in Salt Lake and give addresses which are broadcast into our homes, if we are lucky enough to have DISH (and BYUTV) or we go to our church and watch. It is my favorite two weekends of the year. I feel very nourished afterwards. My oldest four are there, this weekend, attending the first session Saturday and hoping to get into more, though that is difficult. edited to add this later in the morning........cannot believe I forgot, lol This week I also: registered to vote, one day this week actually had all my dishes washed (with the dishwasher broken, nonetheless though husband fixed it yesterday, hallelujah), and had my hair cut. Still long, but with layers. And get this, if I use the right conditioner, curl cream, spray gel and a diffuser on the blowdryer, I have "naturally curly" hair! I have not spent this much time primping since before my marriage, lol. Thank goodness it is naturally curly, what would I have to do if it wasn't? |
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Sep. 26, 2008
thursday
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Yesterday was a moderately successful day. I gave the younger five their choice of books and they chose Island of the Blue Dolphins. We read two chapters and I was surprised that even the youngest two sat very quietly and listened. Some workbooks were done, but not all I am moderately happy with the learning that was done yesterday. We read scriptures together. In fact, I also read them alone and later with my husband. That gives me a great sense of security and peace, like a warm blanket being wrapped around me. Chores were done, and the house is reasonable right now. The missionaries came over last night, and they were great company. Very nice young men who were a pleasure to talk to. And they shared some scriptures with us before they left........yet more warmth. For dinner, I made pepper steak, usually one of my best things. I have an unusual recipe, with a great broth of tomatoes, molasses and soy sauce. Yesterday, after I started it, I ran to the store for a couple more things, and it burned! Just a little, it tasted smoky. Thankfully I had a back up dish, a new one which I normally would not do for company but it worked, thankfully with the "smoky" pepper steak. Spicy green beans with pork, a Chinese stir fry. All of that with jasmine rice and corn muffins. And Sara Lee pies for desert, lol. It felt like a success and I needed that. Today, I am headed to Denver for the morning/afternoon, to go to the temple with some other women from my church. I am so looking forward to the peace and feeling of sanctuary in that place. I have given all the children their jobs and assigned each teenager to be a mentor to one of the younger ones. The plan is in place, it should all be smooth, I guess we will see this afternoon when I get home! lol |
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Sep. 25, 2008
Wednesday
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This is a conversation I had with my husband last night as he was just coming in the door: "I need a big hug, I am feeling a little panicky" with deep concern, he hugged me while asking "what is wrong? what happened?" "promise you won't laugh?" "o-k-a-y?" "I watched the evening news". He did laugh after all, while assuring me that I was fine, my family was fine, my world was just fine. I am not so sure. I have faith though that these are the days that the scriptures say the faithful will endure with the help of the Lord. Not sure exactly when were the days when they did not need the help of the Lord, but I do think it takes faith these days to listen to the news and not tremble just a bit. It makes me very grateful for the food we have gathered this summer and for the network of family and friends who would help us as we helped them should something happen. And that I can pray any time I want without fear of lions. I was talking to my friend Joanna yesterday and she tells me that every year I say the same thing about feeling behind before I have even started. lol Thank goodness for friends with good memories. Because looking back, I feel good about the learning we have done in other years. So, this year will probably be fine too. I feel good about being honest about this here, no point in pretending to be perfect, but my husband and I have been going through marital distress for about two years now, it has been much much worse this past summer. We are doing everything we can to rebuild and some days, I think we will. Well, most days I want us to, some days it feels possible. I think we will. We have the help of our clergy and a marriage counselor and we are trying as hard as we can. The stress level some days takes nearly all of me, and I am not as energetic in other areas of my life. Yet, I think this is the most important thing I can do for my children. If it makes me not as eager and available for amazing art projects and thrilling lessons, so be it. So yesterday I was thinking about what I could do, realistically, without inducing guilt over plans not followed through on, yet giving my children the best I can at the moment. Whenever I feel burnout coming on, I usually go back to the two subjects that give me the most joy myself, art and geography. I am beyond even that at the moment, lol. I had to dig deeper. Books. My love for books, my family's love for books. I went to the bookstore and bought several books to read aloud with each other (I am talking the younger children here, the older ones have long ago taken control of their own schooling, they tell me the subjects, I gather the materials, off they go). I tried to find good historical fiction and this is what I found: 1. A Gathering of Days about a young girl living in New England in the early 1800's 2. Island of the Blue Dolphins, a favorite of mine from childhood, about a girl living on a Pacific Island who is left alone when her tribe is taken, killed, left...cannot remember, but I loved it 3. The Cat Who Went To Heaven about a cat who belongs to a Buddhist monk living in ancient Japan 4. The Door In The Wall about a young boy living in medieval Europe who is meant to be a knight but ends up with the monks in a castle 5. A Wrinkle in Time because we are all sc-fi freaks and it looked like fun. lol So for now, we will read the scriptures as a family, and then with the younger children, I will read books and have them do their math books and grammar workbooks. I think workbooks are the most boring things ever and it fills me with guilt that I am not producing great hands-on activities instead but the children actually seem to like them, so we are going with it for now. There is a nature center not far from here, and last week we went and took our field guides with us. We have one for trees, birds, wildlife, insects and reptiles, and out of all that, we managed to classify a tree (a white ash) and a bird (a mallard duck). LOL What great naturalists we are. But it was fun, and I think nature is great science. That is something that can be done easily and frequently. There are some museums around here we have not explored yet. My children eat up documentaries and Masterpiece Theatre productions like candy. I keep raving about gentle, rambling days, well, that is what we are having. lol Last yesterday was actually a good day for all I am writing about. I took my younger three to a mommy and me class, Music Makers. It was fun. I shopped at a bookstore and when I came home, had a fun afternoon snuggled in my bed with my youngest reading picture books and looking through the cookbooks I bought, picking out food he thought was yummy. The oldest, and middle ones had done chores and the dreaded workbooks while I was at Music Makers so that was taken care of. For supper, we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over our fire pit and looked at the stars. As days go, it was pretty nice. |
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Sep. 23, 2008
what a day today was!
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In a mostly good way. There is a woman in our church with five children nine and younger, expecting her sixth child on Friday. Looking at her and all her ducklings around her reminds me of younger days. In some good ways but also I remember how that felt. So I offered to watch her children for her a day this week. She said it would be nice if I could watch them for her appointment which was at eleven. I said "fine, drop them off at eleven and pick them up at five". She said "What would I do with myself?". I said "oh, you will think of something". Sunday she came back up to me and said "were you serious?" LOL Absolutely! So today we have had five extra munchkins running around. They were very good children and it was very smooth. Every once in awhile though, I looked around at the sea of children bobbing in and out of every room, and thought "oh my stars!". She came an hour early, but she looked happy and relaxed. I guess she had her time. I remember those days. Young mothers say to me sometimes "I don't know how you do it, I can barely handle my three" (or two, or four). What they are doing is so much harder than what I am. They are in the midst of it right now. The first children get older even as the next children are coming. Life gets easier. Having a large family is a joy and I hate thinking of a young mother giving up on that, if that is what she wants, because of being overwhelmed. |
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Aug. 18, 2008
Conversation with two of my boys this morning
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This morning my two boys who are 11 and 9, were telling me about a show they watched yesterday, a documentary about lions. Joshua says "Tommy cried at the end". Tommy says indignantly "no I did not........well it was so sweet". LOL Something about baby lions and their mother. I am laughing but I am also touched. I am so glad that these young men still have their tender feelings in tact. Even if it is over baby lions. lol |
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Aug. 6, 2008
Posted in family life
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We never made it to Yellowstone. That is the problem with last minute plans.......they are not always feasible. Last week was quite a week anyway. By Thursday three munchkins had a stomach flu. What fun that would have been on a road trip. We had a mostly quiet week at home, playing and making messes with no one to help Mom clean them up. Guess what we are busy doing this week. I turned forty one Saturday. It was a very quiet birthday. Forty one does not feel any different than forty, and I liked forty. Moving past that forty mark has a comfortableness I was not expecting. And not in a "too old to care" way either. LOL It just feels good. We start our school schedule in two weeks. I am looking forward to it. I never lost that excitement in the fall of new things happening and the excitement of new challenges. Of course, in school, I had lost that mostly by November. With homeschool.......we can re-invent our year any time we want and recapture that. Still, fall is a great time of year. The crisp weather, leaving summer behind and preparing for winter and the holidays......it is invigorating. |
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Jul. 28, 2008
Posted in family life
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We are down to five munchkins around the house for the next few days. The oldest four (secretly I call them my minions, rather than my munchkins, but they hate that LOL ) are off to Especially For Youth , a youth retreat, this week. It has been such a mellow morning. Surprise, surprise, five is easier than nine. We had fish sticks for supper and french bread pizza for lunch. They have been playing quietly some made up game about the Avatar (Japanese anime we all love) in the family room. Mellow morning. And we are headed to Yellowstone this weekend. The minions LOL are only an hour from there so we are driving up this Thursday and they will meet us there Saturday. Four days of camping at Yellowstone. It is going to be great. |
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Jul. 21, 2008
catching up a bit
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The last two weeks have been a bit of a blur. Every day I felt swamped with "outside the home" stuff. I am such a homebody, that is tiring for me. Friday I was thinking how smoothly it had gone, how well I had held up, along with having teenage children popping in and out with all their things, and then Saturday I woke up feeling overstretched and grumpy. LOL So I did the basics and then read a book. Enchantment by Orson Scott Card. It was a great read. I finished it late Sunday night and have that satisfying buzz from a great read that leaves you thinking long after the book is back on the shelf. My son Ryan, 17, is home from being away working at the Scout Ranch. It has been a great summer for him. He wants to be a forest ranger after college so this was fairly close to his dream job. (the ranch is in the mountains...of course). Two weekends he even surprised us by coming home with four friends from the ranch. Well, he gave us a couple hours notice. We invited them to dinner and grilled out. My oldest daughter has been dating someone, maybe the first serious relationship she has had, and they come over sometimes. I find myself in a strange in-between land as far as a homemaker and mother........small children, heck nine children create chaos, but older children need a company ready home. Ugh! Trying to adjust and demanding lots of help. (Secretly, I kind of like it though )I have joined our church choir since moving to Colorado. We sang yesterday for the second time (we sing once a month). It has been an interesting time. I warned the choir director that I have a very unpredictable voice. It is not terrible, or squawking or anything, but not naturally beautiful either. I do fine if I can choose another voice and match theirs. Usually that would be a male baritone, LOL and here I am singing alto with a bunch of girls. And the choir director is not shy about stopping the whole choir to help me practice getting one note right , either.  She is nice enough about it though and I did tell her I was there because I want to learn how to sing. So, fair enough. Ever once in awhile though, I am hitting it great and she gives me a smile. And she made me a cd to practice during the week. This might not be a natural talent of mine, but it is one I want very badly. I just keep plugging away. Maybe by Christmas I will be singing with the angels, LOL. And school is coming up........I feel all the excitement stirring. We have already had many talks about what we would like to do this year. I plan to unschool this year, but in a Montessori kind of way. We all want to learn about American History. And geography. Dabble in several sciences. Maybe learn German which would be fun because our neighbor is Swiss and has German cartoons and books and all that. Read lots of books, go lots of fun places. Oh, it is going to be great. I am so thankful homeschooling is in mine and my children's lives. It has really been the making of us. Ryan and Samantha are supposed to start community college this fall. We do not have all the paperwork in but I do not foresee any problems. Samantha started working in her dad's office, as a file clerk, today and is getting paid a very nice wage. She should have Russia paid for in a month and then have four months to put money in savings for whatever she wants to do when she gets home. (She is going over to Russia with a volunteer organization to teach English to school children in January). All in all, we are just humming along. A sour note here and there but isn't that life. Drinking lots of lemonade, making lots of icees, having a good summer. |
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Jul. 8, 2008
Monday
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Yesterday was an all around great day. Simple joys. It was a nice day spent mostly at home but one thing that stood out was helping Jessica and Sarah start their own "flower garden". Which means they each have a large pot with five or six flowering plants, with their own watering cans, on the front porch. Last night was also our Family Home Evening night. Lately we have been doing activities, eating out or going to the movies, but last night we had a lesson. I have decided for the next few weeks to do lessons based out of the book Standing For Something....10 Neglected Virtures That Will Heal Our Hearts and Homes by President Gordon B. Hinckley, our late prophet. The first virtue is love, or charity. I read an excerpt from the book, about Christ, told the younger ones some stories about Christ, talked about what being a disciple meant, each of the older ones read a scripture about charity, we talked about them and read another excerpt from the book. We have two different projects going on this week....one to increase charity in our home and one to increase charity to our fellowman. It was a nice lesson, I felt warm and good while we were talking. Hoping today is good as well......... |
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Jul. 7, 2008
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This weekend was wonderful. We were able to get away from the house and have a proper outing for the first time in months. Thursday afternoon we left for camping. There is a beautiful spot we like about an hour from our house. It was raining, drizzling really, when we started setting up camp. I kept looking at everyone saying "we are not going home!" and they kept saying "we don't want to". "Ok, as long as we are clear". We took a long drive around the back roads up there, since we do not know the area very well yet. The midwestern alpine forests are so beautiful to me.......aspens, fir trees, wildflowers, creeks everywhere. It took awhile for me to remember to say "fir cone" rather than "pine cone" like down South but then I remembered Winne the Pooh always calls them "fir cones" too and it became fun. Thursday night I was determined to do more than hot dogs and marshmallows. I always wonder why we head into the woods and fresh air and nature..........and then eat the most artificial food available. Last summer we were driving through Rocky Mountain National Park, down some back road, in our seventies van, listening to John Denver, with the windows rolled down and I am feeling very earthy and happy. Then I look around and realize all my kids are eating Little Debbie snacks and drinking Capri Suns!! Where is the homemade granola bars, the organic fruit juice I pressed myself? Bad earth mama, LOL. Since then I have tried to mend my ways but the establishment keeps holding me back, man. They were out in force Thursday night........"where are the hot dogs? Mom, aren't we having hot dogs? well, can we at least have s'mores?" LOL Yes, I let them have s'mores but we also had t-foil dinners....hardly a new concept but at least it was real meat and some veggies too. They loved them! And corn on the cob, roiled in t-foil and cooked over the fire. And Samantha made us an apple cobbler in the dutch oven. After dinner, the kids sat around the fire, playing games and talking. It was nearly nirvana. Friday was a beautiful day......clear blue skies, plenty of sunshine. I woke up to the sound of birds, chipmunks chattering, the creek. Lovely. After our usual breakfast, (Walt always gets up early and makes pancakes, eggs and bacon while the rest of us huddle around the campfire drinking hot chocolate), some went fishing, some went hiking/walking. Jessica, Sarah and I made our first "fairy house". Jessica, my little creative spirit, got right into it. Sarah asked "are fairies real?" I said "well, no, but it is fun to use our imaginations sometimes don't you think?" She screwed up her face and asked "well, if they are not real, then why are we building them a house?". LOL This is the girl obsessed with planes and space ships. Obviously more of a scientific bent. She still helped though. I took pictures that I will post later. Friday afternoon we came back home, rested a bit. Grilled some ribs and then did fireworks. Saturday morning we went up to Manitou Springs, which is a village north of Colorado Springs, in the mountains. Pure tourist town but still lovely to walk through. We bought funnel cakes at the boardwalk and played in the park by the river. We tasted four of the seven "flavors" of soda water in fountains around the town. Then......we went to Chuck E Cheese. No matter what, we always seem to end up at Chuck E Cheese. Other things.....Samantha has been accepted into the ILP. She should be leaving in January for five months of teaching English to Russian school children. She is very excited, we are very excited. Ryan is working up at the Scout Ranch for the month of July. For a boy who wants to be a forest ranger, this is a dream job. Not much money, but some and he gets to live in the mountains for a month. All in all, we are doing fine and having a great summer. |
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Jun. 19, 2008
My two little princesses
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My two sweet little girls last night........I was sitting in bed in the dark with Sarah waiting for Jessica to finish getting ready, enjoying the few moments of quiet with her. We had already had her bedtime prayer. She always gives thanks for the same three things.....our home, her mom and dad. As three things go, I suppose those should be on the top of a four year old's list. I told her that was a good prayer, those were some good things to be thankful for, let's see if we can think of some other things she could be thankful for. She listed a couple of things,, then Jessica bounced into bed. We heard Jessica's prayer and then Sarah said she wanted to say another prayer. She said "Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for my beautiful Mama, name of Jesus Christ, Amen" I said, because I had been half asleep honestly, "did you just thank God for your beautiful Mama?", she nodded happily and received several hugs and kisses. Jessica said "I said that too, except I said it in my mind and I said "very beautiful" ". Well, I was not about to tear that apart and gave her several hugs and kisses too. I always wanted seven children, five boys and two girls. I feel like I received two extra little princesses and I am thankful for them. |
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Jun. 17, 2008
Father's Day
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For Father's Day this year, I decided the thought was the present. The father in our house is notoriously hard to choose presents for. He would rather have the gift of the money still being in his checking account, LOL. So I decided to go simple but fun. I bought cool but manly patterned card stock and stickers for the five youngest to make their own cards. A set of camping stickers, a set of tool/building stickers, some seashells, zoo animals, and an amusement park/carnival set. Fun things Daddy likes to do with all of us. And then I bought cake mix and premade frosting. The children helped me make the cake and then decorated it themselves, with several tubes of colored frosting. It was a wild cake! Before bedtime, Jessica thanked me and said I had made it the "best Father's Day ever". Which made me feel I had stolen some of her daddy's thunder but also reminded how simple things are the best and bring my children the most joy. I was thinking about my dad this weekend. I called him first thing in the morning but he was working, part of his crazy several days on, several days off schedule. I forgot to call him later. But we were going on the thought this Father's Day and I certainly thought of him. Maybe I can call Mom and make sure he reads my blog later. this was my dad as a teenager........  from his days of being a young father to me   In his soldier's uniform. He was in the Air Force for 22 years.  It is fun to look back and see him so young, but this is how he looks now and for most of my life that I can remember. (he kind of went bald very quick, don't think my mom was expecting that when she married his young self) I don't think he turned out half bad.  There is a song that plays on country stations now and then. I do not listen to country music, not after having to listen to Conway Twitty and Willie Nelson as a child, country music makes me a bit twitchy, but I am a channel changer and every now and then it stops on a country music station playing a not so bad song. There is a song by Alan Jackson Smalltown, Southern Man that reminds me of the small town southern men that I have been blessed to have in my life. My Dad being the chief one of them. I have to admit I get a little teary when it comes on. In many ways, it is him, and where he came from. He is a good Dad. He was always very involved, quick to take us places, to talk to us. He was a good sounding board for me as a kid as I tried to sort out the world and how I felt about it. He has been a good example to me of always learning, never becoming complacent in life with what you think you know. He has many interests and always has some new thing to talk about. We share many of the same interests,like politics, geneology, history. I guess I can blame him for my love/obsession with sci-fi because he made me watch the old Star Trek with him. While I still do not have a love for Captain Kirk (the way he jerks while making "meaningful speeches" is makes me want to hit something) but that started something that brings me great enjoyment. We are not very expressive in our family. I mean, I am with my children but with my "original" family, we are not. I think Dad is the most expressive one of us. He can be very kind. He can also be a grumpy bear (another thing I inherited...eek) but the next time you see him, all is forgotten, blown over and done with. He never held it against you, never made it difficult to re-approach him. I have been blessed in my life with many people who have loved, cared for and shaped me. But today I am writing about my Dad. The older I get, the more I think I become like him. Which would have appalled me as a teenager, but pleases me now. |
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Jun. 3, 2008
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Today is definitely a "count the hours until bedtime" day, at least so far. It is only 9:32 am so I guess there is hope. One of my favorite shows is Jon and Kate Plus Eight, about the Gosslen family who have eight children under the age of seven (twins and sextuplets). At the beginning of every episode, while they show images of children playing, laughing, having meltdowns, you hear Kate's voice "today I may very well lose my mind". Today I may very well lose my mind. Usually I watch that show and think my nine children look easy compared to hers. Last night I was watching and thought.....we need discipline, we need a schedule. I am not a schedule person. I am not a discipline person. I firmly believe "teach a man correct principles and he will govern himself". For most of my children that works beautifully. But.....everyone is different, aren't they? So today trying to start this family on a schedule. Trying to teach teenagers that speaking to Mom in that tone is not acceptable. Not fun. For me or them. However, if I have learned anything at all over the years, is that good things usually start out like this........MISERABLE. For now, the schedule involves two things......our morning routine (clothes, bed, chores, healthy breakfast) and continuing on with our summer program. Then I will work on more orderly bedtimes. Then maybe going on in public....... I don't know. This is a family, not a military unit. I had a dear friend in the last place we lived who loved our family and told everyone (or so I heard)...."those older children are so helpful and polite......and she is so patient with the younger ones". Not that the younger ones were well-behaved, just that I was patient with them. I thought it was funny, I still do. But maybe....I could be patient and they could be well-behaved all at the same time? Today I could very well lose my mind........... |
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Jun. 2, 2008
Posted in family life
Finally, an update on the kids. And they have been doing so much lately which needs to be written down before it is forgotten.  Levi, who is 32 months,has recently taken back up wearing underwear and doing very well. He was fully trained in January but with all the moving, regressed and had no interest. Now he is doing well and not only that but has finally learned that toilets are not for playing in. We are all so relieved. I guess finally using it for the correct purpose brought that home for him. He looks down at the water and says very sternly to me "that water is nasty, do not play in it". I nod very solemnly back and agree. While doing the happy dance in my mind. He is at a dead heat with Joshua for being my most conversational child. Every time you or he walks into a room, he asks how you are, and replies pleasantly when you ask the same. He asks how you slept, if you had good dreams, in fact, he spends the day asking questions and truly listening to the answers.   Sarah and Jessica are becoming very best friends. They have always been friends, but now they play together all day long, usually some imaginative game that they create together. They never seem to tire of each other. They compliment each other and look out for each other. I always think this is what sisters are supposed to be like.   Thomas and Joshua have finally caught up on their reading. They are not advanced for their age but they can read scriptures, newspapers, cookbooks easily and smoothly and are reading books for enjoyment now. I did not realize what a burden their being behind was to me personally (I was always thinking about how they needed this skill for life) until it was behind us. They are both so very smart, I really enjoy watching them learn and putting new things in front of them.  I feel hesitant to even talk about Jenny, afraid I will ruin the improvements I have seen in her lately. She is much more friendly in the family (that "eat snails and die' look was pretty standard when this picture was taken).....takes an interest in all of her younger siblings and if she still fights with the older ones, it is never around me. She does not seem to find me nearly as annoying as she used to, though I guess I have my moments. She is going to a church youth retreat this summer and is excited about it. I guess the difference between twelve and nearly fourteen is a big one.........  Logan is doing well. He keeps his own counsel mostly but he is a good young man so I cannot take issue with that too much. He plays the piano beautifully, mostly self taught. There for awhile he was playing from this classical/jazz book, songs like "Maple Leaf Rag" by Choplin, and whoever wrote the Peanuts theme song. He and Ryan have been doing yard work for a couple of families around here and making their own money. I firmly believe the answer to raising teenage boys is keeping them busy with hard physical labor. It is not natural for boys their age to be staying at home with the women and children and I think they feel that deeply. Yet, I am not about to throw about fifteen years of hard work raising a good man by throwing him into public school just so he will have some place to be during the day. He turns sixteen in five months......then he can start working. Luckily, he and Ryan have three different church youth retreats this summer and at least one week long Scout camp. That will help them feel engaged. Not that he is hard to live with, you can just sense the "caged animal" feeling. When he turns sixteen, he can start at the local community college too. There was a funny situation yesterday. I guess funny depends on who you ask. I needed Logan to stay home with the five younger children. I was teaching a class, Samantha was playing the piano in the children's group, Jennifer and Ryan were both receiving callings (being asked to be class presidents....there is a semi-formal ceremony involved). So it had to be Logan. Logan was called to be his class president last week, so he had responsibilites but his were the least pressing of all of us. And Walt was at work. Was Logan ever mad at me. Not yelling, he knows better than that. Just being stubbornly stoic. I laughed to Ryan, Samantha and Jenny on the way to church that all over children were fighting their parents refusing to go to church, but my son was fighting mad because I was making him stay home. He rebels by being more righteous than me. Sometimes I appreciate the irony of that, sometimes it annoys me immensely.........  I already wrote some about Ryan already. He is a good kid. Sometimes a bit smart alecky.....it is rough being smarter than your mom and still having to listen and obey. He is just so darn competent, just like his dad. He turns seventeen in two days. He has recently starting dating and enjoying that. Not any one particular girl, just friends, even double dating sometimes. He is such a geek. I admire his ability to be his own person and swim upstream, but yes, he is a geek. John Denver is his favorite singer, everyone always thinks we are kidding about that. Nope. He rides the unicycle, juggles, makes balloon animals and plays the harmonica. He wanted a sharper phone for his birthday, researched and found a phone he liked. Lots of features, very techno savy. Including being an MP3 player and with FM transmitting capability so you can wirelessly play your songlist on the car radio. What did he load his memory with? John Denver, the Chieftians, and church music. What a wonderfully odd teenager. This is a list of what he carries about in his pockets...... a pen, a harmonica, four bucks of change, phone, comb,marker, pen(one of those old school ones with four colors of ink) , chapstick , a pirates coin and a toothpick holder. In the back pocket, wallet, notebook, calculator. He used to carry a small roll of duct tape but he found that his body heat messed up the adhesiveness. And he lent out his pocket knife and it was not returned. He jingles when he walks but anytime you need something........Ryan has it.  Samantha has so much going on in her life....very good things. She recently came back from a month in England. She is starting college this fall. And in January, she is leaving for Russia to teach English to school children for five months. So many good opportunities/blessings coming her way....... |
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May. 21, 2008
yesterday and how I think today will go............
Posted in family life
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My oldest daughter and I spent the afternoon shopping for summer clothes for the younger three, having lunch at a cute deli she found and wanted to try (in the middle of the mall, but not your typical mall grab and go) and wandering around the bookstore. It was a lot of fun. I am not usually much of a shopper though and by the time we pulled into our driveway, I breathed a sigh of relief. Shopping always gives me a feeling of lost time. Not wasted time, but lost, like I have been removed from the world. On the way home, we had stopped and picked up National Treasure 2, which the munchkins are watching right now. History! Walt came home very soon after that and said he was thinking about taking the younger three to Prince Caspian. The oldest six went to the midnight showing,and he and I went on Friday night, just ourselves. The girls had fun picking which of their new dresses they were going to wear first. We decided though on the way that while it was a great movie, the plot was too intricate for them to be interested for 2 1/2 hours. So we went out to eat instead. It was lovely to sit and talk about things they were thinking about,rather than manage the crowd or talk to the older ones. I enjoy eating out with the family but it does take some mental energy to keep everyone happy, in control and yet look relaxed, like having a family of nine is the easiest thing, not the least bit of work. My silly pride. Of course, I love my children and my big family, but of course,it is not the simplest thing being in public and not making everyone feel like the circus is in town. And I have found that others' attitude toward us is founded largely on my attitude. If I seem happy and relaxed, even if the children are just a bit loud or one or two is unhappy at the moment but I am handling it calmly and with humor,we get the doting looks and nice comments. If I am stressed and looking out of control myself, we get the disapproving looks. So anyway......only having three to manage/enjoy, it was nice. Another thing that was going on yesterday, we had some jerky going in our dehydrator. The smell that filled the house.......oh my. I asked my veggie daughter if she wanted to become a carnivore again,she looked disgusted and said "I think it smells like chocolate" . Whatever,LOL. We tried two kinds,one with a store bought jerky mix and one a homemade marinade. The store bought turned out better but I want to be able to make it without all the artificial stuff,so we will try again. We have been working on building up a food storage supply. We have about three months of food stored up,though by the end of it,we would be eating rice and beans,rice and beans, rice,rice,rice. It is a good feeling to know,when you have nine children,that you will be able to feed those nine children,no matter what is going on in our weird world. As for today, well,it is going slow so far. My plans are to gather everyone, read scriptures and have family prayer, have a fifteen minute group clean up, assign them each one individual chore and then give them the day off. I even plan on taking the younger children off to the nature center. My older ones help me quite a bit, they need this break I think......... And then tonight, Samantha and I are going to a ravoli making class. I am looking forward to it. |
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May. 16, 2008
Posted in family life
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This has been a good but nothing special kind of week. Most of us have been recovering from a stomach flu, which is thankfully behind us. Life in this new house is starting to settle into a comfortable schedule. Mostly unpacked, mostly organized, which feels very good. Days which would probably sound boring to anyone else of watching the History and Discovery Channel, trying to finish up our math for the year, reading books, cooking good food, daily chores, sitting around talking about nothing, reading the Scriptures together. Playing in our great backyard, spending time with our new neighbors. A quiet little life but it makes me happy. We went to the library nearest to our home yesterday for the first time. (we were going to one fifteen minutes away for some reason??). It was very very small, but when we walked in, they have a wonderful children's section. We came away with some very good books I am excited to read and use. Last night five of the oldest six went to a midnight showing of Prince Caspian so I know today is going to be a sleepy sluggish day for the family. A good time for me to catch up on my things. Like my bedroom...and I am this close to actually being caught up/finished for a minute with the laundry. How many times does that actually happen!? My two oldest boys are going camping with their Boy Scouts tonight so dinner will probably not be very fancy..........maybe spaghetti and salad. Walt is working tomorrow so no fancy family plans this weekend. I am thinking this gives me a great chunk of time to get caught up, gather my thoughts and stuff together and plan a great week for next week. More on that later.......... |
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Apr. 28, 2008
what a great weekend
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I was thinking last night about what a great weekend this has been. So many little moments of joy. I guess the weekend started Friday when I was able to go to the Denver temple with some friends from my church. The temple is always so peaceful and calm. It was a good day. That night my son grilled steaks for us while my husband and I ran some errands. We came home to such a delicious smell! Saturday, since dh was working, seemed very much like a weekday. Just meandering around trying to catch up on what I had missed doing from the day before. I actually love those kind of weekends. The pressure is off from the weekdays. No schooling to worry about, no big lists. I meander around and slowly work through this project or that while the kids play. My two teenage sons spent the day helping first one elderly family with yard work and then helping another family move. They came home, should have been exhausted but instead were excited and getting ready for their dance that night. I thought ....they are just such good kids. I cut the boys' hair Saturday afternoon. I had just bought a set of clippers and told Thomas he was going first.....I had reasoned it out and he was the only who would look best bald if I messed up on my first time. You should have seen his face! LOL I usually cut with scissors. These clippers seem like they will be easier if I can get the hang of them. The haircuts went reasonably well. I have certainly done worse, poor boys. And Thomas still has most of his hair. By then, I was actually starting to feel a little poorly. I have had a bad cold the past two weeks, we all have. Our family usually does not get sick often or long if we do. Everyone is better it seems, but me. I felt run down and tired and my chest was hurting. I told my husband emphatically "I am going to take it easy!" I guess expecting disagreement on that. But he was willing, ran to the grocery store for me, made supper and let me lay down the rest of the night. Sunday, I was still feeling tight and heavy in my chest and decided I needed a true day of rest. I stayed up long enough to get the family out the door for church and then went back to bed. I lay perfectly still and quiet for 3 hours. I did not go to sleep, but I just lay there. No tv, or radio, no noise. Blessed peace. Then I read the Old Testament for 30 minutes and was feeling great when the family walked in the door. Church went well. All the younger children went to class by themselves. My oldest daughter who is eighteen now and out of the youth program was asked to play the piano for Primary, the children's group. She is excited. I think this will be great for her. The younger children were already asleep, so that is when I took my nap. DH did too. Then I got up, and prepared a roast for dinner There are some meals that are so easy, like roast or roast chicken, yet they are so soul satisfying. It took me half an hour to prepare the roast, cut the veggies and put it in the oven ad then the best smell wafted through the house for the next 2 1/2 hours. While that was cooking, my dh made and I mean made, the older children wash all the dishes I was behind on. That was nice. To go with the roast and veggies, I made some couscous (I have some vegetarian children who would not eat the potatoes in the roast) and some corn. DH had bought some rolls the night before. Wonderful meal. Then, my teenagers went to a church fireside while I did the dinner dishes and dh taught my 9 year old son how to make fudge. He makes great fudge. No marshmallow fluff stuff........serious fudge. It is rich and dense and nearly pure chocolate sugar. We love it. Now to get started on this week....... |
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Apr. 14, 2008
Posted in family life
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It is taking much longer to settle into this house than I thought it would. All those weeks in the hotel, I dreamed about being able to get up start a load of laundry, unload the dishwasher, cook breakfast and then start into housework..... I missed having days with that homey rhythm. I forgot how much work there is involved in getting a home settled to the point where you can have that sort of rhythm and the subsequent satisfaction of seeing a neat and attractive home. I know I will never get there if I do not start, and I have started but what I really want to do is go to bed and relax for two days straight. No worrying about the kids being bored or too loud for the hotel room or how exactly to manage something homemade for dinner because take out is boring, greasy and too expensive..... I finally am in a place where I can just let down the load for a minute but ........it looks like something exploded in here......... We went into the mountains this weekend and had a cookout. it was beautiful. When my camera gets back from England, I will have to take a few pictures....... We planted grass seed this weekend too. Within two weeks, the garden will be in. Once again, we are going to try a garden. We have tried before and grown mostly weeds and zuchinnis. We had no idea that zuchinni could produce so much.....We ran out of people to give it away too. We planted two rows. This time around we plan on two hills. I am hoping to have a nice crop of tomatoes to can. Maybe some okra and beans and peppers. |
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Jan. 16, 2008
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Third week of the month and we are only half way through the first week of the lessons I had planned out. I guess the miracle would be that we made it through half a week of schoolwork. And those days were more fun than our schoolwork has been lately.....I think I am on to something good.
But right now, staying at my parents' house, my sister's children, also homeschooled, have been with us for the past six days. That means thirteen children running through a moderately sized house....I am about at my limit. They have been wonderful children....doing chores, caring for little ones, not fighting .....mostly. It has been a great time for cousins who do not see each other very often to get to know each other. It feels so miserly of me to say my nerves are about shot........but after packing and packing and cleaning and cleaning and driving and driving to get here.....my nerves are about shot. Doing homeschooling right now seems so over the limit. Though my nephew did it with us yesterday and really enjoyed it, asked if he could do it with us again. I guess that is it, my guilt just took me over......I am getting off the computer and doing that lesson with them. And looking at google earth to see pictures of Antarctica......... And reading lessons with all of my younger ones....... Wow, guilt is powerful. |
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