New Life for an Old Desk

I inherited my Mom's antique sewing desk. It is built to hold the machine in the whole so the material can be level with the desk when one works. I liked this desk mostly because it was hers. My husband was frustrated with moving it yet again knowing that I rarely sew.






As you can tell it needed work. So I decided to attempt my first furniture redo.










I emptied it and found this cute pattern stuck behind a drawer.











It was my mom's. I love that there is a story to tell there. I also found a scrap of paper in the desk with her signature on it that I will be putting back into it.















Isn't it pretty now.
I sanded, primed and painted twice. I intended to get new handles for it, because after I polished the originals they came out such a shiny brass which I really did not like. Apparently the size of these handles is very rare, none of the local stores carried them and the ones I could find online were ridiculously priced, so I got satin nickel spray paint and went to work. I like them quite well.

The list grows.. and stuff

If you came to visit and pressed this button last week,
We would have heard one short ding
If you came on Tuesday and pressed ever so lightly
We would have heard an insistent nonstop ring
Today you will find it has been disconnected,
so if you do not knock you may wait on our porch for quit some time undetected.



If you see this notice on a door, you have found our house. Inside you will see this notice-


"A home for everything and everything in its home. We have found ours, our stuff has not.(It doesn’t seem to be looking very hard either, you’d think it was on summer vacation)."

Okay, not really, but it should be there.

Moving is harder on me than it used to be. My husband finds it amusing though, in fact he was doubled over with laughter last night. Why you ask? Well, I turned off the light and ran straight into the wall, fully into it... with a thud. You see, the walls, they are not in the right places. It didn't hurt as much as falling down the stairs, which I did in the daylight. Just call me Grace.

Speaking of summer vacation, we were just talking about that right?, my kids have never had one before. Nope, never. We've always just schooled year round. Not this year. They are in their third week of it. Aubrey and Brennen have learned to love reading for pleasure, both read five books yesterday, but today... Aubrey says, "Mom, my doll is on her horse see."
"Very nice."
"Can I have a banana split?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because you don't like bananas."
Pause... "can I feed Mila mushed bananas?"
"Why?"
"Because, I'm bored."

Welcome to summer vacation. Hope yours is going great, and that your kids get to experience boredom, at least once.

New House

If my camera was working I would post a picture of a beat up duplex, and then one of a two story, three car garage with a large pine tree out front, a walk and rose bushes and simply say, "Yea!"

Since my camera is not working you will just have to imagine it.

Potty Training

We are working on potty training Sethie right now. He is a boy that is all present from the moment he wakes until he crashes and he is drawing me into it with this new step for him. If he is excited he is all excitement, if he is sad it is all sadness. So now he is potty training and when he goes he needs that honest to goodness, look me in the eye and be fully aware of my achievement this very minute type of praise and join me in a mouth open, down to your toes clapping session. It's nice to join him in the achievements of one particular moment.

Extracurricular Activities?

"How do you manage the extracurricular activities?"

We have a hard time deciding this sometimes. We schedule classes and events
based on how much they will impact us, and how interested the children are in it
and whether it fulfills a need. I also limit classes for kids under eight. My
son is in piano and scouts, my daughter is in dance and activity days. All of
these are 4 p.m. and later, but allow us to eat together at 6. They are all
within 10 minutes from my house, and my daughter is picked up and dropped off
for activity days. My daughter would like to do gymnastics, but the classes are
a 20 minute drive, so the answer is no for now. We are moving to the other side
of town in a month, and then she will probably pick up gymnastics and drop
dance. The rec classes are also on the other side of town 5 minutes from our new
house, so we may add in a month long class here and there. My son will continue
piano after he takes two months off for summer-he is making so much progress
with the teacher I am willing to drive across town. He will switch scouts to the
one that is closer to us when we move. We also do a family park meet-up day from
3-5 on Fridays (the Tuesday morning park day for homeschoolers was nixed,
because it is too disruptive to morning academics). We have a gym membership,
which has a pool, kids classes (art, basketball, toddler tumble etc.), and a
rock climbing wall etc. All the children go to this whenever the mood strikes
and time allows. For field trips-we only average about once a month. So
basically an activity needs to

-have minimal driving
-be for 8 yr. olds and older, unless it is a very short run
-be in the late afternoon to evening, to allow time for academics and my work
schedule, but mustn't disrupt dinner time
-I usually need to be able to drop off and come back for most activities, so I
can get other things done (I do tend to come the last two to fifteen minutes of
classes to watch the kids, ask what they've learned or exchange any other info)
-we do allow a very occasional exception, such as a morning play, drawing class,
but never for more than a month

Next year we will be adding ceramics and Spanish classes, but both instructors
will be coming to our house, so impact will be little.

Baby Mila is 3 Months

Don't you love those dimples?
This is today, 3 months exactly.
You may recognize this dress from one of my projects before she was born.
She's already rolling over.


What a beautiful princess.

Amelia's Blessing

I have been intending to put pictures of Amelia's Blessing up for awhile, but right afterward my camera's memory card got broken. I finally got some pictures from my mother-in-law.

I had called my sister Starr about three weeks before the blessing to see if she could make the dress. She said she would love to, then called me back that afternoon, said it was done and would be in the mail the next day. I got it two days later. She's amazing. The dress turned out beautiful. I had taken a few close ups of the details on the dress. I will try to retake those soon.




Uncle Dan, Grandpa Guy, Great Grandpa Larson, Dad, Uncle Steve, Bishop Wansguard




Here are the California cousins who were at the blessing.












I figured while I was snaggin pictures from my mother-in-laws camera I would take these ones too.

I love Aubrey's look here.

Girl cousins at the lake.

A Definite Ramble

My children and I have attended multiple Spring plays for my students. “Much Ado About Nothing,” “Cinderella-Musical,” and “Beauty and the Beast-Musical.” So in my records for all of these fabulous drama students I get to write about blocking, voice projection and improvisation. Hmm, improvisation-now that is totally a skill I use as a Mom. My little boy was rather, snotty, poopie and tooth pastie last night, which warranted a full on scrub down in the bath. This of course made him howl. I had to pull out my improvisation hat and since I had just been singing about not wanting to dig through the laundry mountain to find the above mentioned boy something to wear I was sure a musical diversion was in order. And out came a musical story, complete with actions, of me cutting down a tree only to sadden a squirrel who had lived there and then a poor mouse who moved into my house and shared cheese with me. It was a fabulous performance let me tell you, or at least it would have been if I knew how to sing, but anyway it did the job and cheered the poor bath afflicted boy right up. Yes, yes we must teach our daughters to properly care for their future homes, clean, cook, love them babies (you all should have seen my son trying to calm Amelia down while I made lunch, poor little man his eyes glazed into that somebody-come-rescue-me look) and how to improvise musical scores on the spot to divert their poor sad little ones.

On another note Aubrey gave us a musical performance for our extended family home evening last Sunday. She has memorized two songs from “Wicked,” and sang them beautifully. I was quite pleased with pleasure at listening to her. Why, I do believe she can actually sing. Who would have ever thought I would have musical offspring, of course none of it comes from me. Kamron was explaining majors and minors to me yesterday and then singing “I’m Going for a Ride In the Car,” in two different ways so that I would get it. Poor child, he actually thinks I understand what he’s talking about. He even still asks me for help with his piano homework-I’m afraid all I can do is stare blankly at him and offer to look it up on the internet.

On another other note I only had five kids with me two days ago (once that was a lot, but I’ve got big kids now so it’s a snap), so I decided to go grocery shopping. We drive through town and pull into a spot. Sethie (3) says, in his animated way, “Mom, you’re alive!” pause, “Good driving.”

Well, the laundry mountain is still there and I just found out I have a stack of paperwork to fill out, so Kamron can go camping at the air force base with his scout troop. Oh, and I have a notice sitting in my work email (4 learning records-late, ccd to my advisor), umm, I’m working on that. Double date tonight for date night with Kevin’s folks, town parade tomorrow, escrow loan papers to do (did I mention we’re in escrow?). Really, I am going to get my work done, at some point… or we could all just continue to dig for things to wear—who needs dressers after all?

Clutter Question

"When you are able, I would love some great advice on fitting a familyinto small spaces. The clutter is sometimes a little too much around here."


Let's see, my best advice is to get rid of everything you can, then keep everything in the garage that you are not using in the next three months. I put kids toys, clothes (including mine), school supplies, books-everything out there, so that I am not constantly running over a bunch of stuff that I am not using. Every three months go through your house and put the things you are done with or bored of in the garage and take out the things you need, this way toys/school supplies/clothes/even dishes feel like new. We only use half of the garage for storage and then we use the other half as living space, which we heat and cool. This gives us a little more room. My parents sealed our garage door when I was a kid and my three sisters and I shared the whole garage for about eight years-it adds a lot of space. Another idea is to use your back yard as much as possible. A shed could be used for storage, or a quiet space for play or study. Some times I am better at keeping on top of it than other times. I have three little boys in one room-the amount of stuff was getting out of hand, driving all of us crazy. So over the last two weeks I got rid of four garbage bags full of toys, clothes and garbage and then I put everything else in the garage except three winter outfits, five summer outfits, two church outfits, pajamas, each boys" small box of favorite toys, one small three drawer chest of toys, and one box under the bed of toys. They were thrilled! They can now get to their stuff that they want easily and their room appears so much bigger. Also if I have lots of things, like books or kids toys that I can see, they tend to drive me nuts. So I try to hide them as much as possible. Many of bookcases have doors, all my videos are behind doors etc. I hope that helps somewhat.

Audios

"HI,
Just reading your post and wondering where you were able to find all of your tapes. Thanks"



I have over 100 sets of CD’s and tapes. I am a pretty big believer in their value. My older two children ages 9 and 11 pick the Your Story Hour CD’s most often these are usually historical stories from
a Christian perspective. They can be found here http://www.yourstoryhour.org/transaction.php.

We also have almost everything by Jim Weiss and love them all. Some of these are more appropriate for younger children and some older. His site is here http://www.greathall.com/ .

He has also done the Story of the World, however this is not one my children pick by themselves, but they don’t mind listening to it if I put it on. It can be found at Rainbow Resource among other places.

My older children also love Jonathan Park, not me so much though. This is a creation science series and can be found here http://www.visionforum.com/boysadventure/productdetail.aspx?productid=33690&categoryid=198.

We also have the Vision Forum History of the World, but I feel like it is more fluff and argument than history content, and was disappointed in it. We do have the movie making and entrepreneurs packs from them that my kids will probably listen to when they are older.

I also pull a lot of our content from Ambleside Online and this company
http://www.alcazaraudioworks.com/schooling.html has done several of the audio books recommended by them. My kids don’t typically grab these, except for the “Tales From Shakespeare,” because they love everything Shakespeare. I really appreciated the “Our Island Story” series.


I like the History Audio series by Diana Waring, http://www.dianawaring.com/ but my kids think she talks too fast and won’t listen to her-maybe when they are older.


We’ve gotten some great literature on tape here http://www.chinaberry.com/cat.cfm/pgc/11400 We have the autobiography of Santa Claus, which my kids absolutely love and listen to year round, even though it is very long and follows Santa all through history as he meets historical people, such as Genghis Kahn and Da Vinci. I also loved “The Windboy,” and got along great with “The House Above the Trees.”

My younger children love Winnie the Pooh and AA Milne poems, and Alice in Wonderland. These can be found on Amazon.

I also like the kids to have a pretty good background in the original fairy tales and liked this one http://www.amazon.com/Fifty-Famous-Fairy-Rosemary-Kingston/dp/0786197013.

I am LDS and my children and I find Scriptures Scouts and the All-Abouts indispensible, these can be found here http://deseretbook.com/auth/7338/Scripture_Scouts

We also have all of the audio books from the distribution center-love the scriptures stories for kids.

Hide em in Your Heart is a series of scripture verse with explanations set to music. I got mine from www.lovetolearn.net.

Beethoven’s Wig series is indispensible, and is at Amazon

The Classical Composers (Meet the Masters) life stories mixed with their music is also wonderful, but out of print, though it can still be found here http://www.ldfr.com/catalog/detail/beethoven/5 .

For myself, I love The Teaching Company series, love, love , love these. http://www.teach12.com/teach12.aspx?ai=16281

That should give you a starting place=).

Homeschooling Many Children

Question-How do you homeschool many children at the same time?

One thing that helps for us is after we had been going for a couple years I began to let the environment and rythms do much of the work.

For instance, instead of reading a geography text we stuck a world map under plastic on the table. Within two years my older kids could pretty much tell you where ever place in the world is and what it is next to. We have also stuck artwork under the table, I wrote about that here- http://melissacalapp.blogspot.com/2010/01/child-sized-masterpieces-level-3.html.

I have also trained all of the children to listen to tapes before bed and then I bought tons of History, scriptures, poetry, musician biographies, and works of literature on tapes and CDs. This morning I mentioned for the first time George Washington Carver, and got a huge explanation of who he was and what he did, not because I had taught it, but because they heard it on tape.

One of the rythms we have also that works well for us, is first thing in the morning I roll the kids out of bed and start reading to them--this morning it was the last chapter of "Gulliver's Travels," and then a chpater in "Story of the World," about Africa after World War II, which was followed by a discussion of racism, inequality, and then somehow how one should pick who they marry and what to look for, and then what kind of jobs can be done from home, so they can be their with their families as much as possible. This rythm of first reading and then letting any discussions come, allows a lot of learning to occur early in the day, since I work from home and need afternoons for that.

If I keep going I'll start rambling, so I will just stop and say. Homeschooling large families does work for the parent willing to deviate from the grade level paradigm, and there is a lot of satisfaction in it.

Logan Turns 5

Logan is very proud that he was the easiest birth.








Logan is a quiet nonconformist. "Logan, what color crayon would you like?" Slowly he stands, looks the teacher in the eye, but the teacher feels as if his focus is more inward than out. Then he quietly climbs under the table and sits down, almost oblivious to the fact that the other children are coloring.







Logan is a thinker. "It is time for bed, hon," and I lean over to kiss him. He doesn't move, he is focused inside again. Then, right before I am going to scold him, he asks his question, "Mom, can I be a kid another time? Could I be a baby again?" "No, we only get to be children once." There is a pause, then he says, "I guess that is one of those things God can't do. Make me be a child again."








Logan is our overseer. "Kam, the plates are a little dirty. It is hard for you to wash dishes as good as me. I'll do it if you want."






Logan is fiercely loyal to his big brother. "Mom, if I get done cleaning the hall fast, can I help Kamron with his chores?" "Kamron is my best bud."







Logan has his own time table. "Logan, please get your shoes on." "Okay." Wander. Sit. Lay. Stand. Sit. "Logan, shoes." "I am getting them." To drawer, the shoes are in his hand. Sit. Stare. Sit. One foot in. "Mom, I have a question. What does shirked mean?" A brief explanation is given, as I push the other shoe towards him. "Oh, okay." Second shoe is now on! And he's up and running. He's in the car!







Logan is giving. Brother-"I don't want this cup." Logan takes his cup, gets down out of his chair, walks around the table and says, "here you can have mine."



Logan is a joy and Logan is 5.


Nanny got him ready for summer. He wore his cool glasses all night.

Two family parties, same kids at both parties, same type of cake at both.
Grandpa could not make either party, but came during the day and to the amazement of all performed magic tricks.

A Week of Renewal

Spring has begun and it is spring break, which means the kids are off “school.” The term gets fuzzier every day as I watch learning and life mesh more and more. On their own the kids have still been doing reading, piano lessons, dance class, political discussions, grammar lesson, piano practice, discussion for starting a business and learned about bills, laws and how common people create change, writing and drawing. They are also meeting friends to go ice skating later. They’ve asked me if we could also take summer off, except for me reading to them-sure we can be “off.”

So while we are living life this week, and I am still working I am also taking a little time for my own much needed renewal. I have been feeling a little overwhelmed lately, mostly because I am not doing all the home making things I am craving. So this week I am cooking, baking, organizing and beautifying, while listening to audio talks. Today I listened to “The Biggest Gap in Education and How to Fill it,” by Rhea Perry. It can be found free here, http://talk-a-latte.com/. It is over on the sidebar. I loved this! She talks about raising here children with respect and allowing them their individuality. The education should conform to the child not the child to the education, with and emphasis on entrepreneurship. Her husband was a public school teacher, and she was trained to be one. As her husband taught he began to encourage her to not send their kids to the schools. She did bring them home to learn and had a difficult time until she starting asking them what they wanted to learn and letting them lead. They moved the family to forty acres and told the kids they could do any project they wanted, but they would have to finance it and take care of it. Some awesome things resulted.

She also talks about some problem areas and how to keep the children’s hearts. I need to listen to this again with a pen and paper. This time I was baking.

Sunday Thoughts on My Home Town

We had stake conference today. Since we have moved across the freeway in our town, we are attending church in the building I went to as a child. Stake conference is where between ten and fifteen congregations meet together. This meeting was held yesterday and today in the building I went to as a youth. My children love to hear about me as a child, so I told them about attending this two story, two chapel building that even has an elevator. We used to sit with another family that had nine young children and no father. I would sit with the little ones and tell them stories before the meeting began. During General Conferences (thoses meetings broadcasted to the whole church twice a year) we would stay at the building and eat in the kitchen as it was too far to drive back home, and we had no cable then. This building is also where much of my husband's and my courtship took place and where we took our engagement pictures.

As we sat and I looked around the room I saw so many people I knew as a child. I had witnessed many of their trials and had seen much of their growth as people and in the gospel. As a child, I can remember thinking that some of these families were perfect, only later to discover that they weren't, but that they struggled and worked towards better following God just as I did and do. I can remember first attending Relief Society, (a class for women) with all of these grown up ladies, when I was eighteen, to discover that these were real women with trials and triumphs and that they were intimate friends of my mom. I sat next to her in that class and felt that they cared about her deeply, like she was their sister. That was the first glimpse of the sisterhood in the church that I received.

I listened to the speakers today, and I have thought about all that was said. One thing struck me. One speaker said "we are in eternity." This life we are living now is part of eternity. We do not need to be in a hurry for we have eternity. Another speaker talked about advice he had received once, "don't be a busy bishop." He applied this to all of us. If we appear to be busy how likely is it that our children will say, "hey, Mom, can I ask you something?" How likely is that the shy neighbor or ward member will come to you for help? This hit me, because I am busy.

How can I be less busy? How can I make time for my little ones and for others? I may need to be creative. My mother always had things to do. She had a sewing room, where she constantly was making something. It was also a room where her children were always welcome. She had lots of places we could sit and talk to her as she worked, and we did. We sat and told her everything, and she listened and didn't judge. She listened, sympathized and encouraged. She could have locked that room and declared it her room and her spot for me time, but she didn't. We were welcome, and she made sure we knew it. Oh, how we loved her for it. We also avoided a lot of trouble, because of her quietly inviting us into her room. As a youth I remember a speaker say that if we were on a date and a boy was getting a little too close for comfort to casually mention that we couldn't wait to get home and tell our Mom about the date, because we told our mothers everything. He said it in a half joking way, but for me it was pretty much true and it was because my Mom was not rushed and she had arranged her home in such a way that we were encouraged to come in and talk.

As we left the building today a woman stopped me, introduced herself and said I was her big sister at girls camp when we were youth. After loading everyone in the car we drove home and I pointed out the place my husband proposed to me, a little restaurant called "Vince's" set back off the road and closed except for dinner.

Once I wanted to move away from this town where everyone seemed to know me. "You are Ken and LaRyce's daughter." But, now, I am glad to be back. This little town has exploded into a large busy town with new stores and a lot of traffic. There are many new faces and special people I have not met, yet under it all my hometown is still there, and now it is me that introduces myself to those, who have not seen me in many years as, "Ken and LaRyce's daughter." The reply more often than not is, "oh, LaRyce! I just loved your mother." Yeah, me too. Mother meant home, but in a way so does this town.

A girl named Mary Frances

"Mommy, I got hurt!" How often do we as mom's hear this phrase? Some moms jump up with a gasp and rush to their children to inspect their injury. I, on the other hand, usually tell my kids,"aren't you glad bodies heal?" or "show it to Nanny next time we are there." My oldest son politely suggested a couple weeks ago that I learn more about how take care of hurts. I am planning a human body study next year and thought this might be a good place to start. I was also ready for a more spring-like (light and home-makey)book. What could teach us about first aid, introduce the human body and fulfill my need for a light, home centered story? Enter "The Mary Frances First Aid Book." This book was perfect! I love Mary Frances.

When Aubrey was about five we read "Mary Frances Housekeeper." It comes with paper dolls and furniture to cut out and advice on wallpapering and carpeting a home, etc. We created a little paper doll house and decorated it as each new piece of advice was offered in the subsequent chapters. Earlier this year Aubrey read "Mary Frances Cookbook: The Adventures Among the Kitchen People." She worked through many of the recipes as she followed the story. We loved the story and all of the recipes.

So, I knew the First Aid book would be just as good. In this story Mary Frances has had a birthday and her brother, Billy, promises to play anything she wants for a whole day, so she asks him to play with the dolls' house and she will show him through the play all the first aid she knows. And so the doll family begins with a runaway automobile, which has brakes that have gone out.

We spent several mornings and several afternoons reading this book-the whole thing in about a week and a half. One afternoon the children, who have no muslin squares, used their play silks to practice bandaging different parts of the body, It was rather amusing to see them with bright blue and green bandages on arms and legs, hands, feet and heads. A free online version of this book can be found here http://www.archive.org/stream/maryfrancesfirst00fryeiala/maryfrancesfirst00fryeiala_djvu.txt.

We enjoyed this book so much that I ordered "The Mary Frances Gardening Book." We have been studying botany this year, and this book will be the perfect conclusion to that study and introduction to gardening, along with just great summer reading.

Relating to Authors

Kamron has been reading "The Aaronic Priesthood: Seven Principles That Will Make This Power a Part of Your Daily Life" by Chad Daybell. It is his first pick of what to read each day. I have been getting comments, such as, "You know Chad's list about how we know we are feeling the spirit, I have done all of those." "Chad said I should go camping at the bottom of a mountain, that would be fun." "You know those guys that almost hurt Chad by jumping over him on their bikes, it is probably good he found out how bad they were and didn't become friends with them."

When referring to authors some people use their whole name, others use last names, around here we are on a first name basis=)


Unrelated side note-my baby is gently snoring with her head on my shoulder and her little arm dangling down right now. Why do little things like that make a Mamma's heart swell?

Can We Drop This Book?

We had a breakfast discussion this morning. I let the kids have a say in a lot of their school work, so this morning I brought up my thought of dropping "Gulliver's Travels." I know it is a great book, a classic. It is also a classic I would not hand over to my kids, because I need to edit as I read. Also, to be honest we are not getting all of the political references. He is calling up the ghosts of historical figures only to find everything written about them is pretty much false, interesting, but heavy-very winter. We are almost done with his third adventure, only one more to go, but I want to read something more springish, more homemakingish, like "Little Women." Yes, "Little Women," and then "Little Men." I know my kids would love these and we would have great discussions.

So I brought up dropping the book. It took about three seconds to be firmly vetoed. Brennen said we couldn't drop it, because he had seen the movie, and that meant he had to hear all of the book. Kamron said the movie only had the first two adventures and he wanted to find out what happened in the last two, although he knows he goes home at the end. Aubrey said, yes, and we hadn't even visited the horses and we needed to hear that one. So another hundred pages of heavy reading to go. Now, I am just wondering how fast we can read those hundred pages so I can read them "Little Women."

A Woman Wants a Little Corner to Call Her Own

"The beauty of the house is order. The blessing of the house is contentment. The glory of the house is hospitality. The crown of the house is godliness.” ~Author Unknown

I am wishing for more order, more contentment, more hospitality, more godliness. I am also wishing for a house. I'll be honest and say six children, homeschooling and working from home in a two bedroom duplex is getting taxing. So I am seeking order, soft words, and godliness. I do not really want anyone over in this place so hospitality is out for now, which probably means I should be seeking humility. Oh, how I pray for a house to close soon. I am dreaming of a home to organize, to decorate, to bake bread in, and to plant a garden.

We have offers in on two houses, which both look possible-both we offered on last year and came back on the market. One is waiting for a response from the bank, while the second is waiting for the neighbors house to close-to bump their appraisal. Pray for us to get a house, so that we can build a home.

Baby Girl

Yes, we call her Baby Girl. We have called most of our babies Baby. There is something so cozy about Baby, something so precious. We also call her Baby 'Mila. And Princess. We've been asked if we will call her Milly or Amy or Mia. I don't know, whatever we call her will come. After all, my mom named me Melissa intending to call me Missy. It never happened-I was Melissa and occasionally Mel. So what shall we call her? Baby. For many years I'm pretty sure.
This is at almost two weeks, in a sweater I made her.
Here, she's in another.
This is what our Big Girl wore today, 2 weeks, 6 days in a size 3 months dress.

.

Moments At Our House

Kamron’s method of persuading his younger brother to keep trying at long jumps that he wants him to do- “Be physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight. When you are 11 you will have to obey those rules, so you should get started when you are young.”

Yesterday, the children had chores and then wanted to play card games their Grandma had taught them when they spent the night. To make the chore time go more quickly the Numa, Numa song rang out for about 20 minutes. They have sung it so many times, the two year old knows it and they are now working on variations and creating different parts for each child. It is delightful to hear them working so well together. I used to sing silly made up songs as I went about my work, but I haven’t lately. I think I’m missing something.

We have a certain child that woke up one day before anyone else, finished all must do’s for school, made breakfast and then proceeded to do her brother’s chores. She was so pleasant and helpful, I was so grateful for her help. The next day when asked to listen to a tape the same child threw a fit, talked back, rolled eyes and was generally unpleasant the rest of the day. I was discussing this with my husband, he said this is the exact reason psychology was invented. The behavior of some people needs teams of people to research and study just to attempt to explain it.

Brennen and Logan were discussing the merits of wooden and plastic train tracks. They both said something at the same time. Brennen said, “It is like we are twins. We even don’t have the same name, just like twins don’t.”

Kamron has started doing a lesson time with the three little boys. Today he worked on teaching them to hop, basic science concepts with cards, and music lessons on the recorder and penny whistle. Find the note on the piano, then singing the “Cheeseburger Song,” from Veggie Tales. This was then played with a funny instrument on the keyboard, to the giggled delight of his brothers. He is fun and makes everything into a game. Logan who idolizes his big brother told him, “Kamron I think you are the best teacher in the whole wide world!”

Seth is playing with his trucks. His big truck ran over his toe. “No, no big truck. That hurts, you need to stand in the corner.” Before he made it to the corner he says, “you say sorry and give a hug and kiss.” “I’m sorry,” the truck says in a very deep voice, and then Seth proceeds to hug it and kiss its grill. Conversation continues among the cars and trucks; each has a different voice and they typically disagree and then help each other and become “useful” again.

Did I ever mention that I love my kids?

New Book

I have been published in a new LDS Homeschooling book, with a very small piece, but it is fun anyway. I am waiting for my copy to be shipped and then I'll let you all know more.

To My Valentines

Kamron told me the other day he "loved Valentines Day, because of the jar that said all those nice things." I'm so glad he said something or I may have just let this one slip by again. Because of the chaos of no family meal times we didn't do this last year. But we will do it this time, and probably each year after. What I do is a write things about each person in our family, put them in a jar, and then we read them at mealtimes on Valentine's Day. My sister, Helen, made similar jars for us as Christmas presents when we were kids-I still have mine. It was such an awesome gift.

So for all to see, these are to my Valentines-


Kevin
You are such a hard worker and determined provider.
You are such a good wrestler.
You are so forgiving.
You are so encouraging of all we do.
You rescue us with park days.
You are fun and funny.
You are very good at fixing all of the things we break around here.
You are our support, that which holds the rest of us up.
You have such an eye for detail.
When you do something you do it well.
We love it when you are home and talking or playing with us.
You are highly prized for all you are and all you do.

Kamron
You are a very good older brother.
You are funny.
You are make up great songs to sing to us.
Your piano playing is fun and a blessing to those around you.
You are good at helping to keep the house clean.
You are responsible when watching your younger brothers when Daddy and I need to do things.
You are a gift from God.
You are a delight to our hearts.
You are fabulous at building Legos.
You are a good friend, sharing and behaving well at other people’s houses.
You are positive and help us to complain less.
You have a testimony and desire to do what’s right.

Aubrey
You are very affectionate.
You are good at talking with others.
You care well for the little ones.
You are creative, always filling your time with worthwhile pursuits.
You are more precious than any diamond or ruby.
You are as a rose beginning to blossom into something truly exquisite.
You are a true help to Mom and Dad.
You are good at caring for animals.
You are very good at helping with the boys.
You are a good artist.
You are good at making friends.

Brennen
You are good at making us laugh.
You are good at being happy.
You are friendly to others you meet.
You sparkle with creative enthusiasm, so full of possibilities.
You are a precious gift who helps us to remember family is the most important thing.
You are good at building legos.
You are good at trying new things.
You are good at helping.
You are a good playmate to your brothers and sisters.
You are very good at being gentle with babies.
You are creative and have many original ideas, especially with your art.
You are good at your reading.

Logan
You are very good at trying to do what’s right.
You are very brave.
You are a precious joy to us.
You are very good at building big legos.
You are very good figuring out pushing buttons.
You are very good little brother.
You are very good at playing.
You are a gift from Heavan.
You are independently driven to succeed at whatever you will.
You are very adventurous.
You are good at climbing and jumping.
Your thoughtful nature helps us all to slow down.


Seth
You are a a determined car and train enthusiast.
You are a delight to have in our family.
You are a loving little boy.
We love your smile.
You are good at giving hugs and kisses.
You are friendly.
You are a good helper when you throw all the garbage away.
You have the cutest sayings.
You are a focused little one.

Amelia
You are so nice to hold.
You are soft and snuggly.
You are wonderful.
You are a miracle and a joy.

Small Chances

"There is a 1 in 1600 chance of a perforation." That one cost me surgery.

In 1% of cases the dura may be pricked during an epidural insertion, and since the needle is larger than in a spinal tap it is possible that the cerebrospinal fluid may leak out resulting in less cushioning to the brain resulting in a severe headache and neck ache that will last for days and may require a second epidural insertion to create a blood patch to clot the hole, but this is very rare. It may be rare, but it hurts... a lot.

Maybe I am getting old enough to read the fine print and start taking it seriously.

Introducing Baby Amelia

Baby Amelia Juliet has finally arrived!

She was 21.5 inches, and 9 pounds 11.4 ounces!

On the last day of January, at a week post dates, I went in to be induced. I was at 2cm when we started the pitocin at 10:00 a.m., by 4 p.m. I was at 3cm. It was at this point the questions of whether this whole thing was not going to work again came up. But I had already gotten things lined up for the next week, so we kept going. At 7 p.m. I was finally at a 4 and my water was broken. By 7:30 I wimped out and asked for an epidural, by 7:50 I made them get the anesthesiologist back in and up the dose. I began shaking and feeling nauseous, I was given an oxygen mask, which I admit to having torn off more than once, but the nurse didn't get it and kept putting it back on. By 9 I was at a 9. This is when my husband said, if I waited three hours we could have a February 1st baby and that would make the date easier to remember. I said that I wanted the baby out now. I began pushing at 9:30. The nurses' shifts changed at 11:30, and I accused them of turning off the epidural. They promised me they hadn't. The doctor was called in at 11:58, and said we didn't have time to break the bed down, go. She emerged. The time was 12:00.01 a February 1st baby. As my husband points out this is very cool because her entire birth date can be expressed with three numbers. 2-1-2010, at 12:00.01.




Kevin brought all of the kids in to see us the next day. Seth's reaction was a hysterical giggle of delight at seeing his mama after a day and a half, when I drew his attention to the baby he said, "it's baby 'Milla," in a nondescript tone and then turned around to drive his train across the edge of the bed.



Logan wanted to see her, but his first question was if my stomach was smaller now and he could sit on my lap. He wanted to hold her, and did so for about three seconds before handing her back. He then began to describe everything about her that was small, small eyes, small ears, small hands, and small "this part," he said forgetting the name for wrist. He was also amazed that even when I was holding her and talking to others I still knew he was getting into things behind the curtain. "How can you know what I'm doing always?" He asked.

Brennen looked on quietly (yes, Brennen/quietly-same sentence) and held her for for about a minute gazing at her. He made the comment later, "She is not inside you anymore."

Aubrey asked all kinds of questions, did it hurt, did I cry etc. She held her baby sister in between each of the boys, and when it was time to do the hearing test she went with her and was very happy to report that she past. She told me that someday when she had a baby, she wanted a healthy baby girl, just like her.

Kamron smiled and looked. He held her about a minute and then gave her back. He wanted to know if I was all right now. He also said he missed me so much, he said it was very weird, because he sees me always and he hadn't seen me in so long.