I happen to have temporary possession of a little treasure of a poetry book called The Path to Home by Edgar Guest.  He is my favorite poet ever.  Ever. 

If I were to compare him to an artist, it would be Norman Rockwell.  I got this book from the library-it's an old book, sewn binding which is falling apart, some of the pages are just barely clinging to it.  I wonder when it was last taken out.  It was published in 1919.

Yesterday, I gave myself permission to sit on the couch & read it for as long as I wanted.  Hannah was busy designing her blog (she understands the html template stuff much better than I) Jonah was making his tree branch hooks-he had 3 orders for them last week! Susanna was watching Liberty's Kids.Alyssa sat with me while I read poetry.  I read her some books first & then she was content to just hang out on my lap.  I sat there for almost 2 hours-laughing, crying, laughing some more.  This collection of poems is beautiful-in the most profound simple way.  It was all about family, fatherhood, motherhood, children, a simple & joyous & content life. 

I read some of the poems to the children.  We all laughed reading, "The Lost Purse" and "The Furnace Door" and "Dr. Johnson's Picture Cow" and "A Convalescin' Woman."  My husband loved "The Lost Purse".  Everyone thought it reminded them of me.  They also thought the poem, "Mother's Party Dress" reminded them of me, which moved me to tears.  I was so blessed by that.

I cried reading so many of them: "Our House", "The Mother Watch", "Tied Down", "The Toy-Strewn Home", "Under the Roof Where the Laughter Rings" and I could go on and on (My Job, The Old Wooden Tub, Bread and Jam, First Name Friends, Tinkerin' At Home...). Here's a stanza from "Under the Roof Where the Laughter Rings":

"...Under the roof where the eyes are bright, There I would build my fame; There my record of life I'd write; There I would sign my name.  There in laughter and true content Let me fashion my monument..."

As I was reading, every so often little Alyssa would stuff her chubby foot in my face & say with her little impish smile, "smell it!"  And I did. :)

This website has all the poems in the book.  I just found it this morning, but I'm so glad to have the book in my hands-it feels like an old friend.  I am going to have a very difficult time returning this book.  I am going to find one for me to own & keep it with me all the time.  It's small enough to go in a purse-hopefully I won't lose it. :) :)

I took these pics last week & meant to share them, but haven't had the chance due to my life being interrupted by having to do quarterly reports-the bane of my homeschool experience.  Ok, done griping & on to the good stuff. :)

I scored some beautiful things at the thrift store.  Susanna gets as dirty as her brother, but she also likes frilly girly things.  Here she is wearing this dress from the thrift store & making "cake in a cup" for Daddy:

We had to cut it with a chisel & hammer, but it was cute and Daddy sure appreciated her efforts. Here, we have "baby in a dog bowl."  No explanations needed. :)

This next picture is a study in opposites.  Susanna is putting videos away while Alyssa is taking them out. LOL

Here's the little house wrecker in a rare moment of repose reading a magazine looking for cow pictures:

Susanna is convinced that she doesn't very much "school" but here's a couple pics to prove otherwise.  This is a science experiment that shows what salt does to ice. 

This next one was a really cool experiment on capillary action w/ markers on papertowels:

Here is something beautiful that Hannah created with polymer sculpting clay & paint.  The rest of us made heart magnets.

And here's a picture of Jonah playing with snap circuits with some other homeschool boys who were all waiting for their sisters to get done with dance class.  Good way to keep busy & learn all at once!

I've had lots of thoughts I've wanted to share & now that reports are done I hope I can remember some of them to write down. LOL

A couple days ago Alyssa fell asleep on me while I was reading a book.  Without thinking, I was about to lay her down & go on to the next thing that needed to be done, of which there were several. 

But, I was so comfortable & I was enjoying having Alyssa snuggled on me that I decided to sit still and enjoy the moment.  I am almost always spurring myself on to just do the next thing (as my favorite Christian lady author, Elisabeth Elliot, says).  But, sometimes, the best thing is to enjoy the present "thing." 

I prayed for my little girlie and gazed upon all her loveliness.  She's normally a very busy & loud little thing.  I took some pictures to remember:

Her sleeve is blue because her busy self had gottin into Susanna's markers & drew all over herself, including her tongue. :)  When she's tired or goes to sleep she likes to thread her fingers in mine.  Or she likes to take her pointer finger & poke it b/w my fingers-or anyone else she happens to be sitting with.

She grabbed my finger when I picked up her hand.  I love the little dimples on her hand.

Here's a shot of her curly curly locks.

And another one.

Here's a very rare picture of me, the mother.  Everyone always asks where I am in the pictures, but I am the one that always takes them.  However, I now have 2 children (Jonah & Susanna) that like to take pictures of me, although I try to avoid it. LOL  Doesn't she look comfortable?

Such a sweet little sleepy-head.  So thankful for cameras-the only way to freeze frame moments to remember. Here's a really neat quote that I find to be true regarding my life & memories:

Life is a rough biography.  Memories smooth out the edges.

~~Dante G. Roque

Today was going so smoothly, so perfectly, so wonderfully.  I was calm, cool, love was the law of my lips.  And then the children got up...

And we've been in the trenches ever since, getting down and dirty.  The 19 month old into everything & needing training, the 5 yr old needing correction, my time & wanting to do what the big kids are doing, my older children needing help w/ math, Chemistry & grammar & wanting to do what the 5 yr old does (lol), dishes, laundry.  I don't have time to elaborate more, but you all know what I mean.

My sweet husband left me a couple notes on facebook (which I hadn't checked & he called me to tell me to check it-he doesn't usually write on there), he left me girlscout thin mint cookies in the freezer & apparently there's a surprise that he's cooking up for me as he called Hannah & has been conspiring with her. 

Jonah asked me to read James chapter 3-you know the chapter on anger & taming your tongue?  Yeah.  For good reason, too.  Sure wish this gentle mothering thing came more naturally to me.

Off to do school with Susanna-she's been patiently waiting all day.

It was a full week. We got a lot of schooling in, but also a lot of playing, too.  Hannah even took 2 days off, but then she made up for it Thursday & Friday. Monday night she went to another HS friend's house to spend the night & spent most of the next day there.  Then, Wednesday, my dh was driving tractor trailer for a friend & took Hannah along with him.  He usually takes Jonah, but this time Hannah got to go & she really enjoyed having uninterrupted time to visit with her Dad. 

The kids got the whole series of Liberty's Kids for Christmas & they've been watching it the last couple weeks.  (We don't have cable or satellite) So, yesterday Susanna(5) was telling us she really likes George Washington & we all agreed with her how wonderful he was.  Then she said she really likes Benedict Arnold, too.  Jonah just about popped his eyes out of his head as he said, "But, Susanna, he was a traitor!!"  She smiled & said, "I think he's handsome."  I don't think she knows what traitor means after we explained it.  I got curious then & asked her why she liked George Washington.  She said that she thought he was handsome, too.  LOL!!  I laughed, Hannah rolled her eyes & Jonah just looked disgusted. :)

On Thursday the farrier came to trim our horses' feet.  The pony foundered a long time ago before we owned him & now apparently because of that he has something called Seedy Toe.  Because it's very mild, the farrier told us that means his foundering was a very mild case. 

Friday we did a lot of science.  The older kids were making alkane, alkene & alkyne hydrocarbon compounds with the atom set.  So, Susanna wanted to make some, too.  I showed her how to make H2O molecules.  She made a bunch of them, put them in a cup & pretended to drink water:

Then she made "dog" compounds.  They looked like dogs, of course. LOL

Today Hannah went to the local horse stable to help with the therapeutic riding lessons there.  She does that every week.  Jonah had 4-H-they repaired a snowblower, worked on a compressor and a generator.  He really likes this group & is learning a lot of valuable hands on skills. 

I think that's all.  I'm sure there was more, but I've had to leave the computer so many times to attend to things that I forgot anything else I wanted to say! LOL 

What a busy & full day!  We didn't get in all the schooling that I had hoped, but it all evens out.  I made 4 loaves of bread this morning.  I needed to keep Alyssa busy, so I set her up with a rice.  She loved it.

Unfortunately, the rice didn't stay in the green lid. I figured as much. LOL  The kids got all their inside chores, outside chores, Bible, memory verses, Greek & latin roots & Breakfast done.  And the farrier came.  That took awhile to trim the feet of 5 horses & 1 pony. 

Susanna & Alyssa are still getting over a cold, so I took Jonah to gym class alone.  Hannah stayed home to catch up on schoolwork & help watch the little girls.  My husband was home today, too!  While Jonah participated in gym class, I found a table to sit down at & work on schedule planning & organizing.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  I visted a little bit with a couple other HS moms, too at the end.  I used to always want to visit w/ other moms, but now I so crave just having time alone to myself since it so rarely happens.  

After gym, Jonah & I went to Aldi's & got some great deals on foods to stock the pantry with.  When we came home, Hannah was riding Copper & working on his training.  She worked w/ Casey the other day.  They are both doing really well & even with having some time off from being ridden, they seem to not have forgotten anything.

Dinner was Chicken Caciattori.  While I was making it, Pat got snow off the porch roof.  He stood in the bucket of the tractor while Jonah worked the controls.  Look how serious his face is! lol

The kids helped me get the kitchen cleaned up & Pat is taking a nap.  He has to work nights tonight.  And he's taking the guide dog puppy with him. I just got some yogurt made up & now Alyssa is ready for bed, so I'm off

I'm so thrilled & wanted to share that I have finally figured out a system for myself for having menu plans a week at a time.  I made up 4 weeks worth of menu plans today & it was pretty painless, surprisingly!
In plastic protector pages, I put in a paper that has the dinner plans Mon-Fri on the left column and on the right column is the list with all the ingreds needed for those recipes. 

Then, behind the plan & list is all the recipes I need so I don't have to look for them. 

They look like menu plan packs. 
Also, Susanna lost her first tooth today-it was a momentous occasion. LOL
And, I came across a website full of great science tools called At Home Science that I want to share. 

So far, we've done Molecularium and I downloaded to the computer a program called ImmuneAttack.  They are both fantastic & the kids are having fun and learning a ton from them.  The Molecularium one was perfect as we were doing a chemistry lesson on alkane hydrocarbons & it really brought the lesson home.  Even my 5 yr old could do it with some help-but all she was getting was the letters & counting, really.  Still, it was good exposure. :)

The immuneattack one is a little tricky to navigate at first, but once we figured it out, it was a huge hit-very fun & educational.  The funny thing is Susanna was drawing a picture about it, but she couldn't remember any of the names of the things.  She drew what she called the blood tunnel (veins & arteries), the bad guys (monocytes), the red things (red blood cells) and the white things (white blood cells).  All she did was watch the older kids play.

We had a really good week this week.  The house has stayed somewhat tidy, the laundry is somewhat caught up & the dishes are somewhat washed. LOL!!  You know what I mean, homeschool moms! :)  Anyway, I did get 4 loaves wheat bread made, a dozen tortilla shells made & granola made, along with all the usual meals.

School has gone mostly well.  It's hard to find enough time in the day to get everything done that I would like done, but we're doing alright & having fun & making memories.  Today we changed things a little bit & I think we're going to make Fridays like this as often as we can.

This morning after Bible, memory verses & Greek & Latin rootwords, we read poetry & there wasn't a time limit.  I read several, Hannah read several & Jonah read a few.  I get so emotional reading poetry-I so love poetry-it's music, but you can only hear the tune in your heart.  Susanna colored while we read & Alyssa ate crayons. Until I caught her, that is. LOL

We did composer studies, we read a story out of the Burgess Book of Birds and we read lesson #7 in The Handbook of Nature Study about studying birdnests in the Winter.  Then, the 3 older children went out into the snowy weather to search for nests.  The baby is feeling sick, so she & I stayed in. They had a good time finding nests & found one they could bring back:

They answered the questions in the lesson about the nest, measured diameter, depth & perimeter.  Susanna enjoyed the outdoor nest hunt so much that she had her own indoor nest hunt.  She took a picture of her find.  She said she found it in her brother's room:

Another plus this week is that Hannah & Jonah have been working on playing music together.  Hannah plays piano & Jonah is learning guitar.  Them playing together is really helping Jonah to learn faster & it is so cool to hear them play together!

Last night my dh & I went out to dinner w/ friends.  Except, the guys left much earlier and drove snowmobiles to get there. lol.  Hannah watched her siblings while Tanya & I did some grocery shopping together & then met them at the restaurant.  The guys had a good time & we all really enjoyed having dinner together.  Pat rarely gets to play, so i was so thrilled for him.

It's a gorgeous snowy day out.  It looks like Robert Frost's "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" poem.  I love that poem!

This looks like a really cool challenge, so I'm going to participate. If you'd like to also, click on the graphic above. :)  My challenges:

1. With the weather as bad as it is, I don't plan on driving anywhere anytime soon, so I do not plan to buy anything for as long as I can.  I may have my dh pick up stuff for salad & fruit, however.  There's many canned & boxed foods that I think are terribly unhealthy.

2. Need to plan menus based on what I have here.  We just butchered a cow, bought 80 lbs of chicken breast thru the co-op and my dh shot a deer, which we processed ourselves-mostly into roasts, steaks & venison breakfast sausage.  So, we've got plenty of meat.  I just learned how to make home-made noodles, so I got that covered, too.  Our local farmer's market closed for the season right before Christmas, so I bought a 50 lb bag of potatoes & a whole bunch of butternut squash & acorn squash & a bushel of apples.  Everything was half off.  Score!! :)  Planning menus will really make the best use of what I have here at home.

3. I want to do a better job of keeping the pantry stocked.  Lately, I've only been buying the bare necessities at the store due to increased food prices.  So, next payday (in 2 weeks) I plan to get staples, such as rice, pasta, wheat berries, etc. 

4.  I plan to type out a list of favorite recipes & their ingreds so I can make sure whenever I want to make 1 of those recipes that I have the supplies to do so.  That's one area I'm weak in.

5. I'm not going to set a budget to restrict myself to.  I just plan to spend less than usual & really weigh my purchases before I buy them.  Also, if I eat before I go and don't take the kids with me, I'll do better, too. LOL  Whatever money I save will just stay in the checking account to go toward bills that we are trying to pay down.

6. Also, I need to clean out the pantry as part of it turned into storage for homeschool supplies. LOL.  So, I need to clean it out & use the pantry storage area for it's intended purpose. :)

7.  Need to organize my recipes.  I've got recipes all over the place & too many cookbooks to search through.  I read somewhere of using a circular rolodex for recipes.  Not sure if the cards are big enough, but I'm going to check it out & see if that will work for me.

Here's a website I came across with a pantry stocking list, recipes, menus, etc, etc.  Lots of great stuff & encouragement there! 

I think that's it!  I'll try to post my list of menu plans & ingreds when I get it done!

I used to do this & had fun with it, so here goes.  If you'd like to participate in this meme, click the graphic above.

Monday: Scalloped Potatoes & Ham (leftovers)

Tuesday: Hamburger soup & Salad

Wednesday: Chicken & Veggie Wraps (w/ homemade tortilla shells)

Thursday: Meatloaf, Baked Potatoes, Salad, Applesauce

Friday: Venison Roast, potatoes, carrots & gravy in the crockpot

Saturday: letovers

Sunday: Home-made Pizza