We have lots of creatures about as our backyard is adjacent to 10-20 acres of woods that include large gulleys and a creek.  This woodpecker favors our property.  It's huge! 

These two received lots of attention from the local media.

This one did not! 

We've tried not to *baby* our baby-of-five-years, but it's a challenge at times.  Unfortunately, this time it turned out she was a bit sick.  A rash developed on her cheeks by the end of worship on Sunday and a visit to the Dr. confirmed Fifth's Disease yesterday.  I've begun testing to determine if baby might be affected.  Holly has it as well. 

For now, at least... 

Abby LOVES her cello!

He can teach Sarah algebra with ease. 

and life is grand!

Everyone (read Abby) has settled into a routine and I've sufficiently decompressed.  That only took six days of staring at blank walls and accomplishing nothing. 

I had eight inches cut off of my hair this morning.  It was longer than it's ever been and though I liked it I'm happy to say that all of the damage done by straightening my hair last fall is gone.  Poor Sarah is grieving the loss of her beautiful Mama, but she'll recover. 

Um, yes, that is a baby in my mid section - and yes, those are leaves outside my window.  Happy sigh... 

The girls came to my ultrasound this morning and baby's cooperation gave us opportunity to do some shopping.  We gave Dan a *shower* over his lunch. 

White Socks

Oh, the suspense...

A healthy baby...

A gift from Sarah for...

her newest little sister!

The rest of us had fun too. 

I've been waiting to see if I should keep this blog name and, from what we could tell, Polishing Gems still fits!

We're also rejoicing because Builder Dan is done with every last detail on the inside.  I won't put it past My Dan to find one or two more things, but as of this moment the inside of the house is MINE.  The girls are celebrating with permission to dress up and have free reign of the house.  I'm a happy, blessed Mama! 

Decompression has begun in earnest.  We've had a peaceful, quiet afternoon working on projects. 

I bought a bobbin maker a few weeks ago and found that it is a huge help.  I made this skirt for Sarah with way less than my usual trouble.  I'm happy to report that it's not been relegated to the dress up pile! 

Hannah put her new sewing kit to good use making doll clothes with her sisters. 

Flowers from an adoring *fan.*

Hannah excels in having fun and bringing joy.  She celebrated her April 28th birthday a few days early. 

Always ready to laugh and bring others along for the ride, Hannah was hardly able to contain herself while opening this *gift.*  It turns out that she wrapped a bar of soap for herself as a joke on the rest of us - good girl! 

Now this is my kind of game.

If you can't make it out, they're shooting arrows and catching them with a pond net. 

When your children are young, you never hear that twelve year olds are delightful.  You should!  They're positively wonderful!!! 

Sarah's been a trooper this week - getting ready for tech. rehearsals in the van several days in a row.  She made a somewhat stressful situation fun!

Abby has graduated from her Twinkles and has been giving a "Twinkle Tour" over the past few weeks.  She played for Mrs. R., Sarah and Holly's violin teacher, last week and received several neat stickers for her foot chart.  She played for Grandma and PopPop today and has several more stops planned on her tour over the next few weeks.  It's fun and motivating for her.  I love watching her concentration. 

is almost stressful!  Ah, I'm going to be okay now.  Abby should recover by next week. 

where we are making it, but it feels like we aren't.  I don't do messy house well and Abby doesn't do lack of routines well.  The combo. is quite crazy and I'm not sure it's worth it at the moment, but that's why it's called Remodel Madness...

Amazingly, the tool mess and waiting living room/kitchen/foyer should be DONE by Wednesday.  The other picture at the bottom is to show that we are free from subfloor in our main floor bathroom.  Tile reigns. 

In happier news, the weather has changed and we've been outdoors most of the day all week.  Dan worked on grading areas of the lawn that were ruined last summer this morning and spent the rest of the day mulching.  Everyone breathes easier when outdoors and away from home.  Very soon, we will be able to relax and enjoy each other in this space. 

Hannah and Holly made Poor Richard Almanacks for their copywork last week.   

"Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."

"A penny saved is a penny earned." 

"Great talkers, little doers." 

"Eat to live, not live to eat." 

"He that 's content hath enough.  He that complains hath too much."

They also did these from George Washington's copywork as a child.   

"In the presence of others sing not to yourself, nor drum with your fingers nor feet."

"Give not your advice without being asked." 

Baby was hungry...

Speaking of baby, I'm 16 + weeks now and starting to feel sweet movements.  The icks are still having their fun with me, but hopefully, they'll make an exit before the 26 week time frame I experienced with Sarah and Abby.  (I'm trying not to think of the possibility of this lasting through week 40!)  In between, I feel pretty well and we're making progress toward finishing up the school year. 

Swinging time, mud cakes, and crocuses - a wonderful way to welcome spring! 

I teach a couple of lessons on Thursdays and the girls have lessons, so we don't usually do history outside of reading or possibly finishing some independent work (Sarah). 

On Friday, before we begin our next week's introduction, I erase the items on the markerboard one at a time as the girls take turns sharing what they know about each topic, person, or place.  I accept anything they have to share and use it as a general guage of their learning. 

Abby has music class and piano lesson on Wednesday afternoons, so we take the opportunity to work on writing while the house is relatively quiet - relative due to construction...

The focus of the day is working individually with Sarah on her writing.  When we're done with that I leave her to research, write, or rewrite while I check in with the other two.  They're usually putting together a written assignment or rewriting something from earlier in the week.  Holly is usually done quickly, so it's a nice day for her to snuggle up in a bean bag with a book or two. 

Here are some examples of recent work done by Holly, first grade.  I'm not looking for anything stellar here.  If she can pull out a couple main ideas I'm happy. 

So cute!

Here's some of Hannah's work - fourth grade.

Sarah's recent Sixth Grade work...

Ooops, those were from earlier in the year.  She took those pictures for me. 

Tuesday is our mapwork and worksheet day.  Since Sarah has ballet in the early afternoon, I spend the bulk of our time working on writing individually with Hannah and Holly.  They complete any pre-writing exercises for the week.  I must add that though I use and appreciate Writing Aids, we have been unable to follow the weekly plan.  We skip some assignments and spend more time on others.  It's been more of a spring board for us this year. 

We start mapwork by reviewing the places we've *been* over the last few weeks.  We play "Howfastcanyoufindit?" with a globe or a map.  I usually have them take turns so that they feel encouraged since we have a mix of ages and Sarah is fast.  Then, we discuss the geography of the area we're studying.  We might look at an atlas to see landforms and note the topography.   Then, the girls work on their maps for the week.  At the end of a unit, we spend a week doing daily maps in preparation for a test of sorts. 

A Lower Grammar and Dialectic Worksheet

Monday is our research day.  The girls start by researching in their own history encyclopedia.  After that, I  have them search for information in another resource.  Sarah usually chooses something on-line.  We're at the age/stage where I help with that.  Hannah and Holly tend to rely on another encyclopedia set that we own.  They may research anything that interests them from our marker board or their own history encyclopedia reading.  When done, they respond by writing.  Sarah outlines her encyclopedia article.

Hannah writes a summary of one section (or more).

Holly did narrations with my help until recently when she started taking down summaries on her own.  I wouldn't normally ask for that until the middle of second grade, but she keeps up with her sisters. 

We are rarely out on Mondays and I frequently read aloud in the afternoon.  The older two read in bed for an hour or so every night - and whenever else they can find a moment. 

For all of you visual people out there... 

Day One - Usually Friday:  I introduce the topic, hand out reading assignments, and read aloud from a spine while Sarah posts on our timeline and the other girls color or look at pictures. 

Here's our Marker Board this week.  (See, it is neater when I'm not on the floor!).

This is taken directly from my TOG manual.  I write and the girls copy onto notebooking pages like this while I hand out reading assignments.  The marker board is displayed all week for ease of spelling throughout the week. 

I hand out Reading Assignments with post it notes attached.  I assign each book a number 1, 2, or 3.  1s are textbook type reading that needs to be done first and  2s are supplemental or topical books that are done second.  Literature and biographies are usually 3s.  I write notes on the post it notes telling them whether they need to deliver the book to a sister, write a summary, come to me to narrate, or find a corresponding literature worksheet. 

Sometimes, books are just "for fun." 

I list the Lower Grammar books together and read them aloud or assign them for independent reading in whatever way works best throughout the week. 

The girls read independently over the weekend. 

I've fallen in love with our library.  These are some of the books we put on hold for the next three weeks of school.  This doesn't even include what I already have on our own shelves.  I've finally fulfilled their need to read - with very little inconvenience or hassle.  Interlibrary loan is wonderful!

Nevermind the bruised toe.  She's a ballerina, you know...

My girls have the best friends.  Sarah's friend gave her knitting lessons at a downtown shop for her birthday.  Both girls knew how to knit, but didn't know how to follow a pattern.  Sarah had four needles going at once for awhile with this project! 

Abby does calendar and a weather sticker followed by a bit of math.  I love the Common Sense Math for Kindy. at age four, but I'm not sure that it's still available.  It's comprised of hands on games that help them begin their journey in mathematical thinking without requiring them to write.  It's a fun prep. for first grade math.  The other workbook is for fun and practice writing. 

Read Aloud time is a big part of preschool time.  I keep a fun book going (Milly Molly Mandy is a favorite), read from a Classic Children's Treasury, and rotate interesting history and science books.  Here's what's in the book basket at the moment.

This pregnancy is playing out like a few of my others  -  my bowl is my friend  - so I've had to delegate Bible to the care of older sisters.  Hannah has taken hold of the task and I'm thrilled with what she's sharing with her younger sisters.  Holly and Hannah take turns reading through a Bible story book and Hannah makes coloring pages or paper doll figures for the younger girls to color or cut.  It's been great fun for them and is the highlight of Abby's days at the moment. 

Their Easter project was a scroll.  All of them were different.  This was the one Abby made with a bit of help from Hannah.

Abby is coming along well with her reading.  We start by learning our sounds with a fun program called Jolly Phonics.  She learns the sound with a story and an action, traces it on a coloring page, makes her own sound book, and does some tracing (early copywork)  in her composition book.  She's finishing Book 6 now. 

Once the Jolly Phonics sounds are easy, we start sounding out words.  I usually group them by vowel at this point.  These words are from a program I used when Sarah learned to read.  I have other lists from Jolly Phonics that match up with pictures that are fun to use as well. 

While working on sounding out words, we play the fast vowel game a lot!  The vowel sounds are obvious.  The music notes are for a quick singing of the beginning of Twinkle and the stick figure is for fast jumping jacks. 

From there, we start Phonics Pathways at the page with the vowels in a box and enjoy our many early reader books one day at a time. 

This book has become precious to me - so many memories of learning to read with three big girls and now Abby has joined the fun! 

The fridge and dishwasher will be delivered after the flooring is installed.

Wood floors waiting to be used

I should say, "Yum - for one!" as no one else cares for my St. Patrick's Day feast.

We had a big day with piano Achievement Testing and a birthday celebration, but it was a good day.  Here's our birthday girl with flowers from Abby and Dad. 

The requested meal with special sub sauce.

Excited to be celebrating sisters

Pineapple Pudding Cake - a favorite of Sarah's for years!

almost!

Abby squinting in the *desert.*

Sweltering Sarah

Needing our shades!

We're trying to smile, Mom, really!

A miniature orange tree

Oh, look what we found!

Beautiful!!!

Misty waterfall

A slightly better picture of the girls. 

Proof of how foolish a person looks when they smell flowers for the first time in a long while.  Dan insisted Sarah take a picture of me smelling the flowers.  Of course, I quickly got out of range of the camera!  I gather the humidity of the greenhouse made my smeller work temporarily.  I think I'm in the market for a personal humidifier.  Okay, posting this isn't my idea.

Just for fun - sharing Abby's joy over "someone littler than her."

The house is coming along well.  The mud room is complete and the kitchen is done except for electrical and installation of our new fridge and dishwasher.  Those items have to wait until after our flooring is installed. 

Here are the new mud room lockers. 

and it's going well! 

We've passed through the Age of Exploration and have been enjoying the Colonial Period.  We've read too many books to share, have written several essays and summaries, and are enjoying some Colonial play as well. 

There's nothing like the sound of wee baby's heart and I was blessed with that joy this morning.  To our great surprise and delight we are expecting a baby in mid-September.  After, five years of waiting, wondering, and loss this is wonderful news for our family!  That is especially so now that we have a functioning kitchen!  I don't recommend experiencing the first trimester of pregnancy during a kitchen remodel.  Our Builder did find a way to get our counter three weeks early though, so that was a blessing.  I don't know if he was motivated by compassion or fear.  LOL! 

I'll be less scarce as I continue feeling better. 

We can cook.  We can clean.  Let the fun begin!

Three of our girls graduated from Suzuki books last Friday evening.  Here is Hannah playing her graduation piece from Book One.

Holly graduated from Book Three.  I didn't get her picture playing alone as I was seated directly in front of her, but here she is playing with one of my former students.

Sarah graduated from Book Five.

Symphony bars for all and no roses for me as they were all gone due to Valentine's Day! 

it's hard to believe this isn't fiction.  Beyond that, what an incredible distraction to have in the classroom! 

http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=85989

This will be our backsplash.

Looking into the kitchen at the new peninsula and window.

To the left of the peninsula is the new, wide pantry with a space for the oven/micro. next to it.

Produce bins are inside the peninsula area.

The bottom half of the hutch.

The hood designed by AK.  Can you tell? 

Lack-of-Kitchen

 It's easy for me to say, now, that I regret not having this done when we purchased this house.  The kitchen remodel was budgeted into our purchase price as the previous owners didn't wipe their cabinets, cooked bacon every day (so greasy), and had the dryer venting into the house.  I can assure you that the combination creates an interesting gunky effect on cabinetry.  All attemps at cleaning created more gunk.  At the time of purchase, our girls were newly seven down to six months - and I had chronic mastitis.  We let it go and kept saying we'd do it in four more years...  One thing that's making this easier is the discovery that our old oven was within moments of fire - long story having to do with faulty wiring.  The cabinet that housed it was black from the sparks from the melted wires.  So, this is not fun, but it will be over *soon.*

A picture of Abby with her scarf!

She wants yarn for her birthday, by the way!

This entry is not my doing.  Dan insists you see the eggs I made for breakfast last week.  For once, it was NOT my fault.  The spice manufacturers are conspiring against us by changing the tops on all of their jars.  Take note, the shaker is in the flip top.  It is not attached to the bottle.  Grrrrrr....

in the school room.  It's crazy, but fun being together!

Abby's finally getting her turn with our preschool math kit. 

Ten days or so until we get our kitchen back.  Won't this be fun?  (Someone be sure to remind me why I didn't want to redo the kitchen before we moved into the house, please!). 

I've heard I have one. 

Welcome to my new school room.

I think our schedule looks psychotic on paper.  I am, however, convinced that it's better than the alternative of psychotic in real life. 

Enjoying fondu together on New Year's Eve

Sledding on New Year's Day

Fun, fun, fun! 

Mostly cosmetic, but still...

I've always wanted to post a chart.  I'm so proud. 

The yellow is four days a week and the blue is one day a week.  I use this for figuring out the puzzle of our days.  Scheduling four piano practices, four string instrument practices, and a zillion school subjects, chores, routines, laundry, and the all important meals definitely requires a grid.  I saved this before I made a few additions.  I forgot our cats initially.  Sarah will tend to them while H. and H  clean the kitchen after breakfast.  The girls can play with the cats or game table after lunch while I clean the kitchen.  I've also added that to our list of choices for the late afternoon.  Also, I use the times as guidelines.  We do well if we eat at 7:00 and start school stuff at 7:30.  Lunch is generally at 11:00 so that we can get to Tapestry as we have activities at 1 pm three days a week.  The rest of the afternoon functions more like a list as we're in and out and not everyone is always at home.  I've found that five mornings on top of our game gives us a lot of freedom in the afternoons.  Oh, and this is the realistic schedule, not the one in my head that wouldn't actually work. 

The code:

Ind. Work is independent work - math drill, handwriting, copywork, spelling workbook, and independent reading if time.

School Shelves will be Montessori or center type activities in Abby's area of the school room.

Abby's school includes phonics, math game, a bit of seat stuff, and her read alouds. 

Latin/Science for H. and H. means Science one day a week and Latin the other three days.   Doing both everyday would land me in the looney bin.

Toy Table for Abby is a table with creative play in our living room near where her sisters practice.

Video is an option that could be replaced with book time depending on her energy level.  I think she'll need a break. 

We have a set Tapestry routine.

Oral R. is oral reading done by the older girls.

HandiC. is handicrafts or kitchen crafts. 

Afternoon choices are so I don't get stuck.  Typically, we do what we want. 

Our power came back on after about 30 hours.  Of course, it took another 8 for the house to recover.  Our fireplace helped, but we wondered if it was sucking out more air than it was heating.  This was a most excellent purchase.  We slept without it and mainly used it to warm one room.  It was a huge help.

Working on a failed gingerbread house on Christmas Eve

Holly in her holly-smocked-dress before Christmas Eve worship

Sweet Sarah

Happy Hannah and Abby

This one turned out well.  I should probably crop out the peeking toes, huh?

Why is my chin shining?  Okay, nevermind.  I'll use the lack of power as an excuse. 

Since we were too lazy to find a tripod (and never thought to take the camera to church). 

Merry Christmas to all who stop by this day.  May you grow in the grace of the One who came - for us. 

If you think of us, pray that our power will soon be restored.  The girls have enjoyed the excitement, but I'm guessing that will fade if we go without Christmas Dinner.  Thanks to Dan's inventive nature, I'm writing this via car battery/power inverter powered wireless on my charged laptop.  The wind is simply amazing - up to 83 mph gusts on top of the snow - and we're hearing every bit of it.  We're doing what we can to keep warm, fed, and safe while reflecting on our Savior, the Light of the World. 

Productivity is reigning over our extended break from school.  The girls made a chocolate cake for Dan this morning.  His birthday tends to get lost after Christmas.

Who knew I could draw?  (Does this count as drawing?)

Holly and Sarah built this fun fellow.

Sarah is 5'3" or 4" to give you an idea of his stature.

Hannah and Abby built this fort in between trips on the sled.

My fun, busy girls!

Just kidding, but this is truly crazy!!!

http://coaches.aol.com/kids-and-family/feature/_a/kids-and-parents-agree-18-to-25-year/20071213150309990001

Meshing our vision (that young adults are fully capable and live up to expectations set for them) with our culture will be interesting.  Let the fun begin! 

A zillion more to go? 

Main floor bath

Lower level

Gifts from adoring sisters

Enjoying the moment

Sweet Friends

All of the Juniors

Abby had her first turn at knitting with Grandma this weekend.  Hopefully, I can figure out how to finish it with her!

While true that I usually have things under control and living with construction is hard, even under normal circumstances you are likely to find me with a slight to moderate amount of paralysis in the kitchen.  A few years ago I realized my responsibility over twenty-one meals a week, not the six or seven main meals I learned to manage while growing up in a two income/school attending home where the family was out of the house for the bulk of each day.  It was an awakening of sorts and I've had to work on accustoming myself to managing all of our meals.  The Good Eats I've posted recently are actual representations of truth in our home.  Equally true over the past week is the fact that in between those Good Eats we had Little Caesar's Hot and Ready pizza (eek!), sloppy joes prepared by a cook who can no longer taste (yuck!), and a dried out chicken casserole made by a harrassed and hurried woman who never seems to make the correct amount of homemade cream soup (ugh!).   A certain husband and oldest daughter have begun to express concern.  Never fear.  We'll be back on track tomorrow - hopefully!  If not, there's always next year. 

So, there you have it.  I make no claims on doing it all. 

We've eaten our share of deli meats from the grocery over the past few months, but we generally prefer to avoid them.  Chicken, turkey, ham, marinated flank steak, and roasts are especially tasty on sandwiches if marinated or well seasoned. 

A friend asked how I slice it to make the effort worthwhile.  An electric knife is handy with some cuts of meat, but isn't always necessary.  I always use ours for flank steak, but otherwise my cutco knife works well and the slices are quite thin.  They'd be considered medium at our deli.  

I was preparing a casserole this morning and shaved half a breast or so and placed it in a glass container for sandwiches.  If I add meats to the container, I put the most recent addition in the bottom.  We sometimes have two meats going at once and store them together. 

I can't believe I'm posting pictures of our garage on-line.  Okay, I can't believe I post any pictures on-line, but this is an extremely handy form of scrapbooking.  The girls love it and I hope they'll treasure these day by day memories one day.  Speaking of daily activity, the garage is where you're likely to find them these days. 

You see, Dan finally asked for a Christmas present as well.   He has always wanted a game table and found a cheap one.  Given that the rooms in our home are small and the larger new rooms will serve other purposes for the next decade or so, he put his gift in our first-house-would-only-fill-half-of-this-space garage.  The girls are having a blast and they're getting fresh air without having to do the snowsuit thing. 

And then there's the ever fun game of "fishing for cats." 

Otherwise known as Jax and Tipper.  Tipper didn't like the flash and Jax was too busy playing and being pet to get a good picture, but here he is.

I think this guy could win anyone over.  He's a ham.

It is NOT gifts.  It's not Dan's either... if he has one.  Over twelve years or so of marriage, I don't think I've asked for one Christmas gift.  I'm not one to secretly desire or expect one either.  Well, this year, I finally wanted something - homemade bread.  I asked for all necessary supplies for easy weekly baking.  I was making up for lost time, see?

The Electrolux arrived last week.  Noting that the box was damaged, we opened it right away.  It took a few days for my manual reading ability to develop, but once it did the results were amazing.  The girls and I spent ten minutes making bread this morning.  Even the cleaning was accomplished while the machine did the kneading.  I am now officially spoiled.  I've given away three loaves already, so I'm assuming the generosity makes up for it... maybe? 

We had quite an assembly line.  Everyone measured one item.  Then, the younger three greased pans while Sarah started washing.  I handled the machine.  Here's Holly with a new bread pan. 

Nice hands, huh?  (Okay, Hannah took that and insists that it be posted here). 

I've never been a perfectionist...

SIX of these at once.  What a blessing!

When I tuck the girls into bed I remind them whose child they are - not just Dad and Mom's girl, but a child of God who has called them to be His own. 

I was going through a variation of this discussion with Abby tonight and asked her who she belonged to and she said, "God, because He loves me more than I love Him.  God loves ALL the people more than they love Him.  God loves Mom more than she loves Him too." 

Precious words for a tired Mom tonight...

Outside of our kingly rib roast feast on Christmas Day, the perfect pot roast has eluded me - until now.  We gave up on chuck roasts years ago and brisket serves its own non-roast purposes.  My mission for the perfect Sunday roast of my (Dad's?) childhood has continued for years.  On Thursday, I spied a rump roast at our local meat market.  It had nifty string around it - a good sign, I thought.  So I asked my friendly, wonderful butcher about it.  His response - "It's lean, so go slow and low."  I thought I'd try it in my crock pot and it was a huge success - exactly how I imagined a non-Christmas day roast should be!

I placed the rump roast in my ultra-large-crock-pot-on-steroids and liberally applied pepper and garlic powder.  I left it on high for about 4 hours before turning it on low for 2 hours.  I peeled and cubed potatoes, adding them for the last hour on high - because I had an emergency and couldn't find the potatoes I bought at the store on Friday because they were still in the van.  I put the potatoes down in the juice and lifted the roast on top.  The roast fell apart beautifully when done and had a wonderful texture.  I served it sliced with potatoes on the side and juice over the top.  Next time, I'll add onions with the potatoes.  Oh, we had asparagus and a side salad too.  The middle girls were thrilled... 

I added to the 1950s housewife experience by turning it into hash for Sunday lunch.  In case you don't have the red checked cookbook, do that by sauteeing the broken up meat and (leftover in this case) diced potatoes with a bit of onion, leftover meat juices, and a dash of worcestershire sauce.  It's definitely good eats. 

Stew bone in chicken (parts or whole) in large stock pot with water, 4-5 sliced carrots, halved celery stalks, 2 minced garlic cloves, and 1/2 medium onion sliced. 

When chicken is done and tender, remove chicken from pot and set aside to cool.  Remove celery stalks and discard.  Skim fat from broth, if desired.  Remove meat from chicken bones and return to stock pot. 

Add 2 cups water, 3 chicken boullion cubes (non-msg/preservative preferred), 1 large can diced tomatoes to stock pot and bring to a boil.  Add one small package stellini (tiny, star shaped noodles) to pot and cook until done. 

Serve with parmesian cheese, crusty bread (from a bakery?), and a side salad. 

My elves had fun decorating last week.

Our little family Thanksgiving - simple version.  See Dawn, we aren't always cute.  Oh, and nevermind the guy in the hat.  We certainly don't. 

Christmas crafts... Foamies gingerbread houses are excellent for families with food coloring issues!  Hmmm....  Does it look like I need to pay bills and clean the kitchen or what?!?! 

Dan and I caught this little one on the stairs sleeping last week - too sweet!

Seeing the plastic over the stairs reminds me how happy I am that it's gone - for now. 

This doesn't work for off months or years, but it works beautifully for those weeks when one, or three, days of history didn't happen. 

Here's markerboard #1 showing Week 15 of Tapestry Year 2. 

(Okay, it won't be so messy when it's no longer ON THE FLOOR ).

This is a pretty standard "introduction" for us and I was proud to get to it considering all that's going on here.  Unfortunately, history didn't happen regularly the rest of the week.   The older girls kept up with their reading and some writing on their own, so there was just a bit left to cover from last week.  The focus of this week is Martin Luther and well, let's just say that our girls are fairly familiar with him. 

Marker Board #2 shows Week 16 added to Week 15.  Novel, huh?  It also shows that I have no shame.  I promise it will be neater once I'M OFF THE FLOOR. 

This works extremely well on the weeks when the material is something very familiar.  We did a LOT of Tapestry Year One this way with all grammar age students.  We only had a term to complete it and I was very ill.  I've also found that it works well to let them loose with the material in a self directed manner during those weeks when I've hit my limit.  The way we've used Tapestry has supported their study habits beautifully without destroying their interest in the material. 

The first coats look good.  Yeah for less decisions for me!

Here's the laundry area.  I lost my *room,* but it wasn't much of a room.  It's not orange-ish in person. 

The new bedroom upstairs...

Our master future bath...  Um, it really is a nice red.  Think traditional.  Think cranberries.  Think Williamsburg. 

Odd things to post on-line, but far away family appreciate seeing things take shape. 

Colors don't transfer well digitally and the roughed in lighting makes things look odd, but I thought I'd make my blog smile too. 

Here's the kitchen in a more heathery blue than what was there previously.  The sun room beyond the kitchen is one shade lighter. 

The new cabinets will match the trim seen in this close up.

The school room is a creamy pale teal.

The main floor bath didn't transfer well at all.  It's less orange in real life - more coffee with a dash of cream.  The rest of the main floor is half cream and half coffee. 

The hallway and upstairs will be done tomorrow and then we'll start seeing some trim. 

I wonder if Martin Luther had just witnessed the birth of one of his children when he penned this...

"The reproduction of mankind is a great marvel and mystery. Had God consulted me in the matter, I should have advised him to continue the generation of the species by fashioning them out of clay. "

I agree with him on the first point anyhow. 

Jax and Tipper

On the whole I prefer to be a non-pet person, but when pressed I consider myself a dog person with no time or energy to train a dog.  I am definitely not a cat person, but I am certainly an anti-mouse person. I also happen to have two children who fall in the category of needing a pet.  In light of that, and by way of avoiding an indoor dog, Dan found these people friendly, mouser cats on Craig's List.  We met them this afternoon and brought them home.  Somehow, I've been given the grace to like them.  They like us too and made the transition easily.  Jax (male, orange, with a dog-like personality) and Tipper (female, black, friendly cat personality) have moved into our insulated third stall and have a cozy house on our kayak trailer near a window.  The girls tried valliantly to get us to allow them in the lower level, but we haven't lost our minds completely - yet. 

"What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow."

 - Martin Luther

 

Well, I should have known!

I've been hitting walls for two weeks.  A trip out of town would be enough as would re-entry after a break from school.  Having to be out of the house all day so our Builder can prime (Tuesday) is definitely enough, though we had a fun day.  I was starting to wonder when and how I'd pull myself to