May Garden

• Sep. 9, 2008 - Home Projects Coming Along

Very hopeful...Looks like we will have most in order before baby comes. Mike is completing the bay window this weekend it needs several more layers of polyurithane to withstand all the activity that it gets. I have several projects just on the verge of being done. Painting jobs, tile, and the girls' room decluttering. I can't see us finishing the kitchen woodwork but at least will have the messiest part completed. I'm happy to have the stripping, scraping, and sanding phase come to an end! We are tidying up the gardens as we start raking the fall leaves. I turned over the compost pile and added dry stuff; leaves, cardboard,  and another layer of  soil. To get that composting done was really rewarding as it's needed some attention for the last few months! But I don't think using a shovel until after baby is born is wise... and heavy lifting is now out as well. Mike will help me with the big fall clothing switch in the next few weeks along with garaging the bikes and out door toys for the winter. Here are the boys sanding the edges of our new steps.

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• Aug. 28, 2008 - Today First Attempt to Do a Combined Preschool

• Aug. 27, 2008 - Searching my heart about the next couple of months...

• Jul. 28, 2008 - Our Big Week of Home Projects

• Jul. 24, 2008 - Recent things...

Just a quick update. We are doing great! Of course there have been 'things' to deal with but mostly good things. Mike got a two day stay in bed as he experienced heat exhaustion. I learned how to treat his needs and had a good warning to not let anyone else get to that point! We are juicing again ( I had just put the juicer away so I could paint LOL) seems the best way to get the minerals enzymes and hydration built up when one sweats so much out in the heat! Mike decided to take his last paid personal vacation time of the year this week as we are making such good progress on the painting and home repairs that we don't want to cut our energies short. Rather be ready for the demands of the school year, new baby, and having more company in our home then hold onto that week even for the baby's arrival. I think I mentioned our new neighbors... well I have decided to invite the preschool age girls over at least once a week for planned activities with Lina and Sophia. This will give us all time to interact with others without trekking to the library programs etc... I just won't be able to when baby comes -for obvious reasons and that we won't have a vehicle that will hold us all until next Spring. We have been faithful to a little exercise each day if I am not doing yard work I take the kids for a good walk. Here is a recent picture Luke took while walking of Sophia,Tim -hugging baby, and me. Yes, I have reached the chubby stage of pregnancy no hips and round -everything! Really, I feel very well. Very determined to stay active for at least the next two months.

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• Jun. 23, 2008 - Brief Update

• Jun. 16, 2008 - Pulling out the McGuffey Readers

• Jun. 5, 2008 - Our Journey With A Relaxed Homeschool

• May. 30, 2008 - Busy, Busy, Busy!

Luke had baby-sitting duty today as I was finishing up a job to reach a deadline. He helped a bit with the project too. Timmy played an educational game. Later Tim played 'mail' with Lina and Sophia while Luke did some reading. We are hoping to  go to Sauder Village tomorrow but are not sure about the weather... thunder storms are to be coming. I do hope we can go. Sunday afternoon we are to go to a birthday party. Progress in the yard is going well. I have only two phases left with the last three landscaping projects. The gardening shall be in full swing next week as we started some squash seeds that should be planted. Mike has yet another lay-off period in a few weeks. I am so hoping to get some of the interior painting done during that week.  We were fortunate to find two great computer desks for each boy to use. Mike looks forward to setting them up properly. I know that in the next month I will actually be slowing down with the heat coming and my back will be feeling pressure as I will start to have more weight to contend with ;^) So I hope to have a lot of the bigger projects wrapped up in July and just get into a routine of taking walks,  watering the garden, and doing regular chores; upkeep and homeschooling. Oh, I have to tell about the lesson we did yesterday! Luke and I went over a 1st and 2nd grade grammar and punctuation series. He really understood well. I see where all the reading has come full circle with writing readiness. well there are two crying girls right now to help. I will continue tomorrow. Because we don't always do workbooks and written work I realize that it is time to get them to pick up their  pencils! So the month of July is going to be reserved for focusing on preparing samples of their progress in writing and math for our assessment period. August reporting will role around quickly!

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• May. 24, 2008 - Luke's Birthday and Daddy's Vacation

This last week has been so busy! I am so thankful Luke is not spoiled on material things he was quite happy with a very low key celebration and just sitting in the car on the way to errands talking with us...   Luke now sits between Mike and I in the sedan and it's quite cozy. It was such a blessing to tell him again about the day we brought him home from the hospital and how grateful we are to have him as the first born - the one who made us parents That is almost all his little heart wanted was some loving affection and a grilled burger with s'mores ( sp) The day after... we had a dinner and a birthday pie with candles ( it was neat to get a berry rhubarb pie on special - just what he was asking for) and opened up some of the presents a dear on line friend sent - the girls and I wrapped them up! After a bit I took the girls in the other room and read some of the little kids books our sent to give Luke and Tim the chance to play one of the surprises the Hi Ho Cherrio  game ( that was one of my favs. when I was young! ) We did go to Wal mart the other day and I picked up two life jackets so the boys could go fishing soon with dad. I am a bit fearful of water and the boys don't officially 'know' how to swim so I have put off encouraging outings like that cuz I can't take the  girls to help watch the boys it just is too much for me. Materialism... My kids DO have a lot really. But what touches my heart is when they CAN see that the things that look good or fun are really nothing compared to relationships. I have been actually thanking the Lord regularly about our financial struggles because I can see even how much materialism we had been into ( which is minimal to many other ppl) BUT IT STILL STOLE DEEPER HAPPINESS. We try not to call dad's lay-off times a negative so we consider them vacation time which is nice because if he didn't get lay-offs then he would have no vacation SMILE. We have been quite busy again with more cleaning, improvements, and repairs to our property. We took down a small deck out back and will replace with new steps. Dismantling this small deck out back was something we were going to do 'eventually' and thank the Lord  we did it now because it's supports were far worse than we even expected ( over 50% rotted) ! So that was a relief and put out just in time for pick up. A small deck could have been a big disaster. We put in more of the garden and were given a large amount of day lilies that we are planting today. In this I met a nice family and a fellow mom that has some similar interests. We also by God's providence met a local homeschool family. My husband stopped at a garage sale on the way home from digging the day lilies and this family was kind to tell me about a co-op for group hands on projects that is near by. I don't know if we are up for getting involved but am praying about it. I am so glad I don't ask to go 'shopping' and wait until Mike decides to do so. It is a lot more enjoyable and often we get a special surprise in it like a great bargain we could not have orchestrated on our own or a providential meeting with some others! Well I will add more later.

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• May. 11, 2008 - Our May Gardening

We more recently have been able to get on with some gardening. Between the fatigue I was experiencing with the early pregnancy weeks and the weather not perking up we didn't put any effort into that area. After de-cluttering efforts we gave ourselves permission to literally dig in. It has proven to be VERY good for my health to get outdoors and into the fresh air more! I have a lot more energy and of course I feel better about getting somethings accomplished. We have had a great time FINISHING up some of our larger projects from the past. We decided last month that we were going to simplify the gardening in the front of the house. I had been waiting to have the money to buy some perennials and ground covering plants like ivy, vinca, and patch o sandra but we need to just cover with plastic and haul some of the clay chips from the other side of the house over to surround the earth around the bushes and trees we planted. I transplanted the lily bulbs and daisy clusters so we can get that done this coming week. Praise the Lord we got the LAST bush transplant finished yesterday! We have transplanted 30 bushes and trees since the first summer we were here ( 3 yrs ago 4th of July weekend) . I think the places that are open directly in front of our enclosed front porch on either side of the steps are going to be better off if we lay brick or landscaping tiles kinda like a small patio rather than planting there. It would be more tidy to place a few potted arrangements in those spots. (Update we ended up adding the lilies for now ... in a few years when they need to be thinned out anyway we will think about the patio idea again) We answered an add from the local freecycle for free brick from a chimney having been dismantled they even stated they would deliver! There is sorting to do ( some bricks are broken ) and mortar to be chipped away. But all is pretty much usable in some area of the yard. I think the broken pieces will be fine to add the clay chips we already have. The FUN for the boys to break the pieces up a bit more is worth the effort. They already did a lot of sorting the afternoon it was delivered. After sorting a bit dad and Luke broke a lot of the clay into chips! I am hoping to get a flowering tree of some kind like a dogwood to put center of our corner windbreak bush landscape. It should fill in nicely within two years and provide some shade, sound barrier, safety for the kids, and privacy. We most look forward to the beautiful birds and butterflies that it will attract. (Update I ended up transplanting the lilac saplings to the mound after seeing a beautiful Dogwood tree for *only* 250.00 at out local nursery I no longer had to HAVE what I wanted) Which brings me to my butterfly garden again I had wanted to plant some choice perennials but ended up filing it nicely with the Asian lilies so it may in fact attract more of the honey bees but that is okay as I do have two butterfly bushes planted nearby. We read about  the decline in honey bees last year and know it is important to provide them a habitat. They also love our clover. The daisies now line the drive with tiger lilies filling in the gaps in the bushes we placed there. I am hoping that in the next few years the bushes and other plantings will provide a living fence so the children will see their bounds more! We like to spend time in this area because there is a lovely Maple providing shade and the paved part of the drive where the kids can play on their bikes is on this part of the property. To have a fence added into the mix in the future is not out of the question but we can't count on having the finances to follow through so we are very happy these completed projects will become more helpful in the future. And though it has been hard work doing all that transplanting we are thankful that the property had these fairly mature bushes starting to over grow the spaces around the foundation of the house. We offered our decent shed to a local couple and they came to dismantle it Monday April the 28th... took part away and then they had a family emergency when their toddler fell at home that afternoon and had to go to ER to get 4 staples in his head. That Sunday evening they finished the job and all was cleared. Mike was able to help with the heavier pieces. We had a broken fridge and a very old thirty year old working one that some one was going to pick up and junk for scrap. But when I offered the working one to an elderly couple that had nothing it put a loop in the other one getting taken. So a little over a week of it sitting out our neighbors called the police to complain. And I called the junk man and pleaded with him to come for that fridge! So that was gone on wed 7th. I also made a mistake in taking a used couch from a neighbor and trying to clean it for our use- it  didn't work out and sat for the all pick up day on the 21st of May. I was able to return it to her porch which is out of view of our next door neighbors.  All we have remaining is a modest pile of stuff from the shed and garage covered with a tarp. This was acceptable to at least the officer. Nothing like being chastised as you are making progress! Oh well I should get use to it with 5 little ones under the age of 8 at home 24/7, homeschooling, going weekly for library outings, grocery shopping, keeping order to our home, doing all the bill paying and paperwork,  and making all meals from scratch to save money. Oh, we must not forget the potty training and diaper changing/ laundry! I am not the least guilty of having a few outlets to keep my morale like emailing with a few friends and keeping two blogs updated relatively often. I certainly have no support locally. No one I can trust not to criticize our lifestyle. We also started clearing the backyard garden spaces. We decided to do things a bit differently this season. We had a lot of trouble with crickets enjoying making their homes our hay mulch when doing the lasagna type gardening last year. We can't shoulder the expense of another layer of soil this year. Also we discovered that the problems we have with water in our backyard are too detrimental to the health of the gardens- until this is remedied we will mainly use our earth boxes. I am still so thankful that I invested in these back at our townhouse apartment for the patio gardening. They are pricey but work very well. So those boxes will be placed in the center of each of the existing garden plots and marigold, zinna, and daisy seeds will be planted around them to keep the weeds down. We have another grape vine added, some ruhbarb starts, catnip starts, peppers, tomatoes, and I have various seeds left from last year I will plant to see what happens. My squash seeds from LAST year did great filling three boxes and need of transplant and will give some to friends that garden too! So we shall have a colorful and busy summer!

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• Apr. 23, 2008 - Some Blessed Articles and links

• Apr. 16, 2008 - An Update Ramble

It's been too long since journaling our days here at the blogger! I recently went back and started filling in the things we have done toward some of the units we'd started in the past. Now it is time to start journaling about all the new areas we've studied! Since I have been with much morning, noonday, and evening sickness and the children have had one of their first experiences with a stomach bug we have picked up double, triple the amount of reading!!! The TV has been closeted until the boys cement their reading skills and cooler weather comes.  And you should see the interest pick up especially in Timothy! He is a busier boy than Luke and thrives on the action of the moving pictures of his favorite videos... but take away that TV although already limited and he wants to read and is willing to sit and listen to books on tape! We have started reading the Five Little Peppers series about a family with five young children and all their adventures.  I think we will pick up the Little House series again in the fall or winter. Also though we have enjoyed Pinky Pye a story about a young family and their cat it seems the interest wains a bit so I might hold that one back as well. It has been special to just say okay today I give us permission to all pile into the KING sized master bed and read, read, read! Right before we went through this phase we'd attended the China Days at the local library -this was a very neat program to fill in the grade school children's spring vacation days. The group hands on stuff was refreshing. So of course this fueled a unit study on China which is really God ordained because for some reason my son Luke has especially had an interest in the asian-oriental peoples. So I ordered a whole group of books on China from the inter library exchange after we read the one book we had. I also started an outline for the unit which will include more discussion about missionary work, geography, foreign culture and American Culture with a neat study on "who Really Discovered the America's first" There has been some evidence that the Chinese did some exploration first but did not claim any of the lands... documents were destroyed when Chinese government made a decision to stop all out ward exploration disbanding their navy -the most well organized and advanced Navy that has ever existed! Which leads to the further studies we've done on Christopher Columbus. I have been reading the Light and Glory book by Peter Marshall and I love it! I then relay much to the boys. I admit I have always loved reading and learning and it just thrills me to be able to do all this with my kids! We also have added to our knowledge more about the American Indians and other Indians around the world thus having fun as well with cowboy and cowgirl themes even a few tale tales like Pacos Bill! Ships and Sailing!!! I have an great book for a unit study and so we have just been reading about early exploration and had a few days  we just poured over all the picture books showing and describing the types of water crafts that have existed since some of the most primitive days and from all cultures and parts of the globe. Lighthouses -couldn't forget the brave souls that manned the lighthouses answering the S.O.S. calls from the tempest! And the spiritual applications are all naturally there to expound on. So more days on the stacks about lighthouses. Again I have a unit study for this we can expound on. Space- the other frontier. We have had fun starting to learn the constellations. I really want to continue this through the clear better weather nights! One fun book we played with was a glow in the dark publication with stars, milkyway, moons, and planets glowing as we read through! Animal and plant life have been in our days too. As spring has sprung we have enjoyed watching the birds ( cardinals, chickadees, robins, and starlings ) empty our bird feeder off of our kitchen window. The squirrels have been a riot too as they find some of their old stash digging here and there for -you would think long forgotten acorns. The grass is finally green and life has been more sunny. though to my husband's chagrin our weekends have been yucky with rain or even slight flurries! Patience! Outdoor 'things'- When Lina brought a fist full of worms and slugs in the other day I knew the fun has begun. How do you get a 3.5 yo to keep her 'pets' in the proper place -outside not sitting next to her at the kitchen table joining her for lunch! We haven't been doing as much baking and cooking I just don't have the energy but we are looking forward to Luke's Birthday when we will take the time to make a cherry cheese cake amongst other yummies! I should be fully over the picky eating I am doing now. And MIke is really excited about his son becoming an older boy of eight so wants to have some really nice things planned. We simply have not been doing much for birthdays for sometime... So we are very excited for the future and all the neat doing and learning ahead. Well all for now!

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• Mar. 1, 2008 - Making lists... and living by the Spirit

• Dec. 2, 2007 - Our New and Improved Winter Schedule

• Oct. 3, 2007 - Luke at Work

Luke Proud of his work. We have a big job ahead of us... The woodwork in the kitchen was painted over a glossy finish ( several times) And of course since we have been here it has chipped away and needs attention. Luke is enjoying this job. Hopefully next Spring we will be able to sand and re stain. Lina watching Mom looking forward to when she has a nicer kitchen to work in .

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• Oct. 2, 2007 - De cluttering Progress

• Sep. 5, 2007 - What have we been up to?

Well I went and did it I typed several paragraphs of what we've been up to and then lost it when I was putting up a link! I will try to get this in before the kids fully wake! We did shopping for groceries and a few other needs and ran an errand ( bill pay) on Friday. Saturday we picked up the trees we'd purchased from the local nursery ( for half off!!) and planted them as well as cut the grass and took care of some more gardening chores We pulled all the corn stalks out and sat the rest of the ears out to dry in the sun for the wildlife as the heavy rains had made them tasteless. Sunday was Tim's birthday he played with a small toy from walmart the kids all liked it. An invisible man you know the kind that you can see the insides of. So for .70 we had sparked several good talks about our bodies. This was totally child directed as Timmy picked up the toy in the clearance isle when I was looking over paint! We did not make it to morning service but in the evening went to speak with the pastor and his wife at the little country Baptist church we had been attending this summer. We were blessed with some relaxed conversation about the way the Lord is directing us. When we miscarried Philip Jordan we felt the strong need to have a little time together and opted to attend a morning service of a larger Baptist fellowship where nursery and classes for the children are offered. Mike and I rarely sit together or sleep next to each other ( we usually have at least two babies between us in those few hours he is home) in our daily lives because of  work schedule fluctuation and business. We also do not have a couch and our great room is tables and chairs, computers, and baby yard... Oh, can't forget the ironing board in the corner! Anyway, we never have the option to go out together and again were not attending a church where we could sit in the service together as I was needed to be with the children at all times in their children's church hour/ sunday school and the time they remained in the service for hymn singing and prayer was always full of wiggles and needing us to restrain them. All that adds up to a lot of work and little refreshment. I do believe in teaching the children to sit quietly and be attentive in quiet settings but again this does not happen over night and I realized I needed to have some options that the little church just could not produce. Also in the future when I would have another baby I will need an undisturbed area to nurse in and well there was no place to provide that in the 150 year old church. Mike and I never had time to reflect on a sermon together either so the very timely message given on that sunday morn at the new church was great confirmation that we were making a good decision, a guided decision. It was like manna to our marriage to be able to connect and have eye contact and rub shoulders a bit in the crowded pew! Monday had to make up some basic chores mostly folding clean clothes and such... we never got out to the church picnic which is alright. There was some disappointment but we had a nice relaxed day for the most part. We had to run out and get a new  phone again! We then found it wasn't the phone after all but a wrong connection and need of reconnect of the correct adapter. We tried four times to get connection working and never saw the real problem. Honestly, I think it was for the good... it changed the direction of our plans. Tuesday We put long clothes on and went for a big walk in town to post office and then to the library. We had a great visit and the walk felt good we'd stayed in too much the last days as the terrible bug problem was especially too much for the two little ones ( even with bug spray). I did end up with a bad headache for the rest of the day though not entirely sure why but it caused me to rest so I feel pretty good today. Once again our plans were changed a bit! We had really wanted to get some major projects finished. We at least had more time to connect and reflect than usual and I believe  that is what we most needed. I may need some farther convincing as I try to get through the rest of the weeks work  in hopes that this saturday we will get to at least one more project. ******I pray dear Lord that you will show us what to attend to next and I know you will give us the strength we need  to complete what you set before us. Hope that everyone had a good long weekend. Jacinda

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• Aug. 16, 2007 - January 2008

January 7 New Semester Begins January 22 My 35th birthday Our Baby, Sanctity passed in early miscarriage We prepared for Karin to come stay with us.

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• Aug. 16, 2007 - December 2007