A little over three weeks ago, our neighbors adopted a rabbit that had been tossed out of a car window near one of their friend's houses.  On the first or the second of this month, the rabbit had bunnies, five of them.  She rejected them and 3 have died.  We are hand feeding the remaining two.  I do the daytime feedings while the neighbors are at work.  We have become very attached to these sweet little bunnies and our neighbor said if the little grey one lives we can have him/her since we are helping out so much.  Dh said today that we can have the bunny!  I'm searching for a free or inexpensive rabbit hutch as dh does not have the time to build us one right now, and I don't have the skills to build one.  If I had more time, I'd learn, but time is short as they are becomming stronger and more active every day.

Our poor dog is very curious and jealous of these little intruders.  Our dog is a Border Terrier, bred to "go to ground" and sees bunnies as dinner.  Clearly, we will have to keep these two pets separate!   I had a pet bunny back when I was single.  She was an appartment bunny and was litter trained.  This new bunny will have to be an outside bunny, but I hope to teach it to walk on a leash so we can safely play with it in the unfenced yard. 

Tomorrow, we will have to go to the library and check out some rabbit books and brush up on their care.  The girls are very excited at the prospect of having a new pet! 

God is slowing us down these days.  Between the illness of friends and minor illness in our home, we are being slowed down. 

Oldest dd had her first migrane two weeks ago today.  What a terrible experience for her!  Thankfully, we have not seen a repeat yet and we pray that if she has more, that they would be easy to control.

Middle dd had Fifth's Disease a week and half ago, I guess two weeks counting when she first had cold symptoms that we thought were just cold symptoms.  A week ago Saturday, she broke out in the rash and she was very itchy on Monday and Tuesday of last week.  She is fine now.

Oldest dd had a fever on Thursday and the rash yesterday and the day before.  Hers was a very mild rash only on her upper arm.   She is completely fine now too.

Youngest dd had cold symptoms at the same time middle dd, but has not had the rash.  We don't know if she had Fifth's or not.  Not everyone gets the rash.

I had a fever for 3 days, starting 12 days ago.  I had one day of feeling good, followed by just being off.  Not really sick but tired and unmotivated.  On Sunday, I awoke with the lacy Fifth's Disease rash on my arms and legs and terribly sore joints.  Yesterday, my joints were more sore and swollen.  Today, they were worse in the morning, but have gotten some better this afternoon.  I still cannot get my wedding ring off. 

Thankfully, my children were spared the swollen, sore joints.  Mostly adults get this symptom.  Like many childhood viruses, Fifth's Disease tends to be worse if contracted as an adult.  I'm not sure how I missed having this as a child, but I'm sure glad my kids, two of them at least, have had it and won't have to suffer the the adult version.

School is going slow these past few weeks.  I guess we are taking our spring break in these slower days.  The weather is beautiful and we are enjoying more time outside.  Dh bought me one of those anti-gravity chairs which is wonderful for resting while watching the children play outside.  When he brought it home, I thought it was a bit silly, but now that I feel like I'm 90, I really appreciate it. 

I am so thankful to God for his loving kindness and care for us!  He is blessing us in so many ways.  Slowing mom down is teaching our girls how to better serve.  They have been good about wanting to help and doing their chores with less fuss.  I am blessed by oldest dd's preparing dinner for everyone and helping with her sisters.  I'm learning about myself too as I listen to them interact.  Not all is good.  I do show my frustration too often and I'm hearing it in their sweet voices now too.  God, help me to be consistently gentle and loving! 

Today, Evan is attending a funeral of a friend of his.  His friend was diagnosed with esophageal cancer just 28 days before his passing.  He appeared to be mostly healthy a month ago before his cancer was found after he had difficulty with the prep for a routine colonoscopy. 

Also today, we got word that another friend, a young mother of 3, has just been diagnosed with breast cancer.   She and her husband are just starting on this road of meeting with doctors and trying to find the best course of treatment. 

Life is so fragile!  What we think of as normal could change in a heartbeat.  A car accident, an illness, or some other event, can quickly and forever change our path.  Remember to enjoy where you are today.  Hug your kids, your spouse, your parents, your siblings, and your friends.  Tell them you love them.  Cherish every moment! 

Now, I'm off to enjoy my girls!  I'm so thankful for the opportunity to homeschool them and share these precious times together!

Times flies when you are having fun!  Isn't that how the saying goes? 

We are having fun.  We are so happy to have everyone home again this year!  We are looking forward to another year all home together as well.  We will likely use The Prairie Primer next year so I can have all the girls together. 

I've just ordered the Chocolate unit study from Hands Of A Child to do this summer.  Meijer Gardens is having a Chocolate exhibit and I thought it would be fun to do the unit study and then a field trip to the Gardens. 

Speaking of Meijer Gardens, we have been there twice already this year.  Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for our yearly pass, what a terrific Christmas present it is!  We first visited Butterfiles are Blooming on one of those nice warm days we had, before winter returned with a vengeance.  Our friends, Kelli, Carl, and Nora came with us and we all had a terrific time.  We visited again last Friday with our homeschool support group.  We met some new friends and just enjoyed a change of pace kind of day. 

We keep waiting for spring-like weather to have our spring break week.  We are so glad we did not do spring break with the masses, it snowed that week.   We are ready for a break now and are glad to see the weather report is for nicer weather soon. 

Obviously, I don't blog very well!  Life has been cruising by.  I am very much enjoying having the girls all home this year.  We have our good days and bad days, of course. 

We enjoyed a trip to Virginia Beach in September.  It was so nice to be able to take a vacation when no one else was!  I don't think I could handle Virginia Beach in the summer.  I don't much care for crowds. 

I need to figure out how to do pictures so I can post those on here.  We have taken some nice pictures since getting our digital camera last spring. 

I've been thinking on Christmas.  I know what I'm getting for our 10 yo and I already have our 4 yo's gift.  I have no clue what to get our 7 yo!  She wants a Gameboy but we don't spend that around here.  Any suggestions for a 7 yo girl?  She thinks she wants a doll, but she doesn't play with dolls. 

Well, my 4 yo is standing here trying to tell me something.  I have no clue what she is talking about so I better go investigate!

We picked strawberries on Tuesday.  I got some put up in the freezer, made one batch of freezer jam, strawberry blender gelatin, and a stawberry pie.  We went strawberry picking again today!  I hope to make two more batches of freezer jam and just enjoy eating some this time. 

Rachael is wonderful strawberry picker.  Annika is a bit too perfectionistic, so she picks very few.  Linnea will pick just about anything so I have to watch what she tries to add to the box.  Annika and Linnea found a snake today, near where we were picking.  They spent a good deal of time observing the hole in the ground, where it disappeared, which allowed Rach and I to get some good berries picked and we filled most of our box fairly quickly.  Now, I am resting up before cleaning, cutting, mashing... berries.

Sometime either this afternoon or in the next few days, depending on how our energy holds out, we will visit the local museum to see a Fresnel Lens that was once in our local lighthouse.  The Fresnel Lens is beautiful from what we have seen in books, on the computer and in a video and we are excited to see one in person. 

I'm sure this entry is full of errors as I'm fielding a constant stream of questions from busy girls.  I best sign off and go fix something (strawberry) for lunch!

After taking a year off from homeschooling the older two, I'm thrilled to have my girls back!  We are two weeks into a 4 week unit study on lighthouses and we are enjoying our studies tremendously.   Next month, we will be taking a family vacation/field trip to Beaver Island where we can tour at least one lighthouse.  There are two on the island, one with a museum.  There are several other lighthouses in the area, but I doubt we will spend the money to tour them.  I fear it may be a bit overkill for our girls, especially Linnea. 

A few months back our old 35mm camera died and we entered the 21st century and bought a digital camera.  This will enable me to post pictures of our adventures, as soon as I figure out how. 

I hope you enjoy reading this blog and finding out what is happening in our little household.  Please feel free to comment or send me an email anytime.