For My Children's Sake - Homeschool Blogger

Rank Watermelon Blues

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:28:00 -0500

Watermelon down!

Not how I planned on spending part, or any, of my evening.

It's all cleaned up, and you can read more about it at the new blog...

Enjoying them,

because of Him,

ali

A Trip To Como

Mon, 3 Aug 2009 22:17:00 -0500

More Pics from our recent trip to Como Zoo! (at the new blog)

Enjoying them,

because of Him,

ali

Sweet Books for Kids #1

Thu, 9 Jul 2009 20:35:00 -0500

Is Your Mama a Llama? (over at the new blog)

Thinking of Moving...

Thu, 2 Jul 2009 12:18:00 -0500

Posted a new Wednesday Hymn over here...

(it will get prettier, I promise )

Sweeter & Softer

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 02:09:00 -0500

Oh Lord, help me remember each day to try to live, a little more, a little better, than the day before.

A little-

sweeter
softer
kinder
gentler

Enjoying them,
because of Him,
ali

Wordless Wednesday 4

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:15:00 -0600

Wordless Wednesdays 1, 2, & 3

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 20:30:00 -0600

I missed the first 2 Wednesdays, oh well, don't sweat the small stuff, right? This is one of those times to apply flylady's "You are never behind. Jump in where you are." happy thought.

I like, no, love, the idea of Project365, but I'm forgetful, and just plain busy, busier than many, I dare say. I do like to take pictures though, mostly of my kids, and mostly every day, so I think I ought to be able to handle once a week.

Baby boy is 3 months old today- wow, what a whirlwind. He is such a sweet baby, so full of smiles, you know, the contagious kind.

Enough words, the rest should be/may be wordless...

Enjoying them,

because of Him-

ali

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Winter

Sat, 20 Dec 2008 19:50:00 -0600

Freezing rain is not my friend. I once spun across 3 lanes of I35 trying to drive home in the freezing rain. My neck still suffers the effects of the impact that stopped said spinning. If the words freezing rain are uttered in a forecast, I 'hunker down' and do not emerge from our cozy dwelling until necessary, and until the roads are safely navigable.

Monday's freezing rain, followed by bitter cold, brought the added pleasure of having to chip our way into the vehicles, fun stuff. Mental note- just because the doors finally come open doesn't mean the windows will open, this makes things awkward when attempting to grab some 'fast food', one more reason not to be buying fast food...

But the trees- they were a sight to behold. When the sun shone through it was like living in some magical crystal world, so amazingly beautiful, and so impossible to fully capture on film or video. The neatest thing about this week's freezing rain was the fact that the trees looked like this for days. I don't think ours melted until Thursday afternoon sometime, when it got to a balmy 20 something degrees. (Oh, and it did not make it up to 4 degrees on Monday, in fact it did not make it up to zero. I think we made it to 4 on Tuesday...)

And here we are with another winter storm in our neck of the woods (along with most of the rest of our state, and several others). We've got wood to keep the homefires burning, soup fixings to keep the crock pots busy, popcorn to pop, and a closet full of games to keep active minds occupied- another round of Set, anyone? Oh, and yarn. We have yarn, there is always something to knit around here.

Baby notes: At 2 months old tomorrow, baby Joseph is growing like a weed and has started aggressively sucking/gnawing on hands- my oldest had 2 teeth at 2 months, this could be the beginning of teething already. He is congested, but holding his own with the cold bug that has hit our home- a definite plus to late and large babies, they're hardy. He is a spoiled little sweetie, who definitely prefers sleeping in my arms to any cradle or criblike bed meant for babies. This has resulted in a further decrease in productivity for myself, as well as more than a few achy muscles, but he's cute, and this time goes by way too fast, so I'll continue to indulge him for a little while longer.

Enjoying the winter wonderland (though I could do without the nasty wind chills). How's the weather where you are?

Enjoying them,

because of Him,

ali

One Week Old and an Apple Tart

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 19:38:00 -0500

One Week Already

Well that was a quick week; I knew it would be. Not much schooling beyond what they can do self directed and independently, and that's just fine for now. There will be plenty of time to get through our Tapestry of Grace studies, and for the teenager to work through some Hillsdale Academy stuff as well, during our long Minnesota winter...

So... I will attempt to distract you with baby pics and good eats.

The night before going in for the induction I felt the need to cook my family 'one last real meal' (turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy, etc...) and then I even baked a 'real desert'- a freestyle apple tart.

This recipe is so easy, there's really no excuse not to make one when there are apples on the counter and pie crusts in the fridge and it's fall outside...

Freestyle Apple Tart

Prep: 15 min

Bake: 25 min

Total: 40 min

Makes: 8 servings

You Need:

1 ready to use refrigerated pie crust (it's okay to cheat now and then!)

4 oz (1/2 of 8 oz pkg) Cream Cheese, softened

3 of your favorite baking apples, thinly sliced

1/4 cup sugar

2 Tbsp flour

1 tsp cinnamon or 'cinnamon sugar' (I'm personally a hard-core cinnamon fan, so I don't use extra sugar here)

optional whipped cream for topping

(I made mine without the cream cheese this time, to accommodate my non-cream cheese appreciating husband)

To make-

Heat oven to 450 F. Line pie plate with crust. Spread cream cheese in 6" circle in center (unless your husband detests cream cheese...)
Toss apples with sugar and flour, spoon over cream cheese.
Fold crust partially over apples. Sprinkle with cinnamon (or 'cinnamon sugar').
Bake 25 min, covering loosely with foil for last 5 min. Cool. Top with whipped cream.
Enjoy!

So easy- older kids can slice the apples, younger kids can toss with flour and sugar, any kids can help assemble, and everyone can eat and enjoy!

*Large family tip: Make 2! (Those refrigerated pie crusts come in 2 packs anyway, right?!)

Well, I got a few naps in the 1st three days after having our new little guy, but I haven't gotten a nap in since. My brain was feeling the effects of fatigue last night, according to my eyelids. I think I need to go to bed earlier, it's just so against my nature, or at least my long ingrained bad habits... Adjusting to waking up every 2 hours to nurse at night always takes me a couple weeks. I'm hoping to settle into a decent schedule soon (tomorrow would be nice) as there is so much on my mind to be doing- fall crafts with kids, Thanksgiving unit study, crafting, sewing, decorating, quilting, baking, oh, and some knitting too...

I may try to knit up another Baby Shrug, this time for my little Mercy, who will soon be turning 2! Remember this? Or this? Or this? How 'bout this? Or this? Oh, how time flies... Believe me, I'm soaking this one up, and taking a ton of pictures- yay! for digital cameras!

Off to cuddle and nurse, nurse and cuddle...

Enjoying them,

because of Him-

ali

Another Beautiful Blessing

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:12:00 -0500

11 days 'overdue' , he's finally here. Our newest blessing, Joseph Justice, arrived at 12:31 pm, Tuesday, October 21st (which just happens to be my dad's birthday- no more 'oops, forgot' on that one!) He weighed in at 8 lbs 14 oz and measured a nice 22".

He's here, we're home, and I'm a wee bit tired.

By Monday's midwife appointment I had progressed to 4 cm dilated (with no 'real' contractions, and no braxton-hicks contractions either, just a couple crampy moments). She had reviewed my ultrasound and let me know that my fluid levels were a bit beyond fine, they were about twice as much as is 'normal' for that late stage of pregnancy. Add to that the fact that baby's head was very high and not at all engaged, and we had the makings of a slightly concerned midwife, the risk being that if my water were to break there was a definite cord prolapse possibility, being so 'open' and all... so we discussed inducing.

My options were Tuesday or Thursday, and my husband's work schedule made Tuesday the day (he has a crazy early and long day on Saturday this week, and that wouldn't give me much recovery time if I had a Thursday baby.) That was probably a good thing, because when I went in Tuesday morning I had progressed to 5 cm (again with no noticeable contracting) and baby's head was still high and bobbing around, refusing to engage. In went the pitocin, and I went to lounging around in a rocking chair, waiting for something to happen. It took about an hour to start contracting, mildly and infrequently; another hour until the contractions were a bit firmer; another hour until I started to grimace and said, um, that one was worse than the last one, um that one lasted longer, and there's not so much down time in between anymore. I was at 6 cm.

The midwife mentioned that if I was gonna want to have the ITN that 'now would be a good time' because it could get fast and furious pretty soon. I had already decided that would be my painkiller route, if I felt I needed to have something, and I had expected to want something as I have never made it naturally with pitocin coursing through my veins. He was paged, I had my shot, crawled into bed, and groaned through the next couple contractions while waiting for meds to kick in.

The next contraction brought a marked decrease in baby's heart rate, after which the midwife said 'let's check you again to see where things are at'- she was checking to see if there was cord in front of baby's head. No cord in the way, but I was already at a 9! She had me push a bit to see if we could bring baby's head down some. She let me know that she thought baby was wrapped in the cord a bit and said she would have me push a bit more consistently to try to bring baby out quickly- he'll be okay, try not to worry. (She doesn't know my neurotic family history...)

I was a bit nervous, but was reassured after every contraction by listening to baby's heart rate bounce back- one good thing about the continuous monitoring of inductions. So there I was at 9 cm, I pushed a little to engage the head and then she asked "ready to have a baby?". I shrugged, "Sure, I guess so", she ruptured the membranes and then baby, uterus, and I pushed a handful of times and he was here, all 8 lbs 14 oz of him. I thought for sure he'd be over 9 lbs...

In retrospect, I probably could have made it without painkillers, had I known I only had about 30 or 40 minutes to go... but all in all, it ended up being a beautifully calm and easy birth, even with the pitocin. No crazy bleeding, no tearing, not a stitch needed. The only recovery issue I have is a great need for sleep, sleep, and more sleep, which is okay because that gives me lots of close cuddling time.

Knitting has slowed down, but not for too long, I'm sure. Thanks to everyone for the sweet well wishes, your thoughts and prayers are truly appreciated. I'll update more soon, but for now I've got some more cuddling to do.

Happy knitting-

ali