When the Oldest Child is Bored. . .

Just a Picture

Sean's Story

like my room so much that i do not want to move
"I like my room," said Tom who never wanted to move.
"we all know," said Sam.
"but we are going to move anyway," said Lucy.
"move what? move my room?"
"no silly move as in out of the house"
"no said tom and he stormed into his room."
"the next day goodbye room," said Tom .
"then he stared to cry so we asked the workmen. to bring the room with us and they said no so we went on with out the room but he forgot all about the room that was better.''







the end

Thanksgiving At Our House

This is what Thanksgiving looked like at our house this year. Alan had to work this year so we decided to keep things simple and just have a bunch of snacks. The kids were happy, things were simple , everyone is fed and life goes on.Gabe got to spend some time hanging out with dog. The dog seems to understand that if he does not put up with being pounded on by the littlest members of the household, he will find himself in trouble.
Today has me pondering all of the typical holiday chaos and headaches folks tend to put themselves through. For what reason, I'm not sure. Folks spend way too much time cooking, cleaning and making themselves crazy over spending time with folks that many times drive them insane. I'm not sure what you get out of that sort of insanity. Maybe my thoughts are colored by the few years growing up when we actually lived close enough to extended family to spend some of the holidays with them. I remember never knowing anyone who was around, a bunch of adults who seemed to think the way to involve kids they didn't know well was to insult them which left the adult somehow feeling good about themselves but the child feeling terrible, just wanting to hide somewhere so no one would really notice me, the noise and chaos. I've sometimes wondered if our kids are missing out on something because they don't spend holidays or any real time with the gaggle of extended family. But then I realize that everyone enjoys themselves much more when you are surrounded by folks you know and enjoy being with. Not sure where I'm going with this really. I'm sure someone will get offended by what's been said already. But chances are in all honesty that most of the extended family is glad they don't have to deal with us anyway for holidays because there are so many of us that we overwhelm them. But who needs to feel the pressure of putting on a show for others anyway. Or spend the time worrying about if the house is in perfect order for that overly critical relative who will insult your home no matter what you've done to make it look nice.

Anyway, I think I've spent way too much time thinking today. I'm glad the kids are happy, Alan has a job he loves, we have enough of everything we need. And we have no stress today because the only people we are worried about today is each other. The impressions we make on those who live with us are so much more important than the ones we make on those who don't. And yet way too many folks spend way too many hours cleaning, stressing, painting, baking, fixing the furniture and cooking to impress those who don't share their lives everyday and just expect the ones who live with them to deal with getting the short end of the stick. Why do we do things this way? Just a question to ponder.

Slime Science

Science is always more fun when it gets messy. Take 2 boys, add in one inexpensive slime science kit, a few kitchen "chemicals" and the result is instant fun. These kids are lucky. I didn't get to make these polymers until Chemistry 2 in high school. This is a much more fun experiment to do when you are younger.

Bowling

Here is the hands down favorite part of bowling. Everyone shares an order of fries. You do the math on this one. 7 kids and one basket of fries. Add in the colored pencils and a coloring book and everyone is kept quite happy.



Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures today. I was trying to get better pictures but due to the simply stellar parenting going on at the next lane, I was unable to get decent pictures without stepping on their ill-behaved children. And trust me, I tend to be fairly tolerant of a group of kids getting together and getting a bit rowdy. This was way beyond anything I would consider ok. But I am ranting here. How about a cute Abby smile? I asked the older two boys to take pictures of each other and I ended up with pictures of pins and score boards so I will take another shot at that next week as well.

One Little Boy. . .

Take one little boy, give him one bowl of chicken and dumpling soup, follow that up with one ice cream sandwich. Your end result will be one adorable mess. But we don't worry about that stuff around here. After all, the kid is washable.

Saturday Afternoon

Two small girls, one big bowl of popcorn. Makes you wish you were there, doesn't it?

Adventures in Babywearing

We are huge fans of babywearing around here. I think the one baby gadget that I cannot be without is a decent baby carrier. And when I say decent I do not mean a snugli or bjorn or any of the other torture devices frequently sold in mainstream stores. We use slings, wraps, mei tai's, an ergo and Alan has a framed backpack he likes. The kids have one for their dolls and the bigger boys carry the younger kids in the carriers when we need extra help. In all my years of babywearing, I have never had the unique experience I had today. Today I learned that back carries combined with a fleece soaker can lead to compression leaks. In other words, Gabe peed right down my back. Luckily I suppose we were at the local stuffmart at the time so I was able to buy new clothes for both of us so we could continue our shopping. I'm seriously hoping this is an experience I do not get to enjoy again. And on a side note, if you are still using a snugli or bjorn or some similar baby carrier, please consider buying a better quality one. Trust me when I say that your back will thank you.

Gabe

Gabe thinks he is a big kid. He loves to sit on the big bench in the dining room.
He loves to climb into the rocking chair and rock as fast as he can. One of these days, we'll have to break the news to him that he still has a bit of growing left to do. But for now, he's having way too much fun to spoil it for him.

Have you ever experienced grocery shopping with 7 kids in tow? It is an experience to be cherished. Ok, maybe I am a bit out of it. Two carts are a must so you can contain as many small folks as possible. Just make sure that the driver of the second cart is not over eager or you just may loose the back of your ankles. Then there are the folks who seem to think they have to drill your children on why they are not in school today. I mean, you can't just take your kids out in public during school hours or you must be hiding something. Everyone knows that when you want to hide your children because they are skipping school you head right to the grocery store. But there are some small benefits of taking so many kids with you shopping. When the store sets a limit on the amount of an item you can buy, you have a few more customers with you who can also buy the full amount of said item on sale. And then we must stand and watch the train in the store for a few minutes. I do believe this was the first time Gabe really noticed it. He was absolutely enthralled. Just remember the next time you see a caravan of kids in the store, you don't really have to comment. Yes, we've heard them all before and you aren't too original. Trust me. If you must comment, make it positive because believe me even when all the kids are pretty much behaving, by the time shopping is over Mom just needs a break.

Pictures from Today

Views from a typical school day around here. Maybe not totally typical as we have one sick kid crashed on the couch.
Really, aside from the laundry baskets that are supposed to be hiding under the bench, the house is actually clean today. For some reason the kids decided to pull them out.
Katie and Liam are back to working nicely together. They are terribly competitive and on a normal day, you hear them talking about how they are going to do better than the other one. I don't know, maybe that will spur them on a bit. Or it will drive me insane.

I have to say I kind of like seeing glimpses into the lives of other homeschooling families. I know there are folks who picture homeschooled kids as simply huddled behind desks and sitting with books for hours at a time. Needless to say, that rarely happens. But we like it that way. And, no, I don't care at all where a child in the same grade level at the public school down the street is with their work or what my child would or should be doing if they were in school. Every school works differently and we have our own schedule. Guess that is the beauty of keeping them home. They are never behind, never ahead, never stuck bored out of their minds because the rest of the class doesn't get it yet, never stuck baffled and confused because the rest of the class moved on without them. If I could have back all the hours I spent in school bored out of my mind, I do believe I would have several years of childhood back to spend actually having fun. Or maybe I would have had time to learn about something that was actually interesting or of use to me later in life.

New View

A few months ago we rearranged the house a bit so that I could make room for all the kids' school supplies in one location. This has helped a ton in keeping track of everything. But when we rearranged, we took all the pictures off the walls. Last night we finally got around to starting to put the pictures back up. Alan also decided to move the other half of the pew that we used in the dining room into the living room for extra seating because we simply did not have enough seats for everyone in there. Gabe loves it because it is at just the right height for him to get up and down all by himself.

The Barn Has Doors!

What's in Your Pantry?

We've started keeping a one-year-old in our pantry. The only problem with this arrangement is that he and his two-year-old sister seem to think the flour is there for them to play in.

Saturday Again

Here is Abby dressed up as the Blessed Mother. She looks very sweet. Reason number 100 that I love playsilks. The kids can do so much with them.

I really should be cleaning the house but I am sorely lacking in motivation at the moment. My entire body aches for some reason. The kids are supposed to be outside searching for missing eggs. They've only been finding maybe 3 a day and that just is not enough. I'm sure we have more than 3 birds laying on a regular basis and 3 eggs a day is no where near enough for our family. Alan is trying to fix the lawn tractor again so he can get it moving and put into the barn for the winter. A belt came off and he has had a heck of a time trying to get it back on. We roasted marshmallows last night to make the kids feel better about having to cancel the party today. Nothing like a house full of folks who smell like a campfire. Hunting season is gearing up (rifle season starts today, hope I have the terms right) which means the kids will be spending much less time outside for the next few weeks. We can often hear the hunters in our backyard since they are just on the other side of the creek so I tend to be a bit paranoid about letting the kids run in the trees this time of year. It's only a few weeks and then things will be back to normal. Of course, we still need to make friends with a hunter or two so we can get some cheap meat. Ah, I can dream. On a positive note, we finally have Alan's car back from the shop. Only took them 2 weeks and way too much complaining about how hard the job was to get it fixed.

Mr. Gabe is calling me to change his stinky diaper so I guess I'd better go take care of him and the next load of laundry. He is very upset that he is not allowed outside right now to play with the big kids. His life is so rough.

Gabe in the Laundry

Ok, I admit it. There are often several baskets of clean laundry in the living room. I am very good about keeping the laundry clean. But around here we tend to have problems with the folding and putting away issue. So Gabe has decided that a wonderful place to play is right on top of a basket of clean laundry. He climbs right in and makes himself at home. Last night night he decided that Dad's socks made perfect scarves. Very cute kid.

Fall in the Yard

A few pictures of the yard. I really should have taken them a couple weeks ago because things were very beautiful then but they still look rather pretty.I had a few other shots that I thought were a bit better but they were taken sideways and I can't figure out how to turn them around with this program. So if I get more, I'll add them but here's what we have for now.
All photo credits go to Bryan. He seems to be my go-to person when I want pictures of things in the yard and he is more than willing to put up with my requests for a chance to play with the camera.

Signs of Fall

It's official. It's getting cool around here. I have to run the pellet stove to have a place to set the bread dough so it will rise. The kitchen is getting nice and freezing cold again. It does warm up a bit if the oven runs for a while but otherwise, the kitchen stays rather cold. And since I use the crock pot whenever possible since it is cheaper than using the propane for the oven, well, cold is normal. Not exactly sure why to be honest but the pantry we have in the kitchen keeps things nice and frozen in the winter. I imagine it has something to do with being located on the wall the garage is on since the garage was added on after the house was built. All 3 rooms along that wall get rather cold in the winter. We have a fireplace in our bedroom so that one is not a big deal but the kitchen and dining room stay cold. And the kids come in from playing outside and go huddle in front of the pellet stove because it is the warmest place in the house. Yes, I'll send the older boys out with the camera later to catch a few pictures of the trees. Some of them are rather pretty.

Saturday Ramblings

So what do you do on a weekend with no car and no adult interaction? It's only been 5 days since I've had the van and am going a wee bit stir crazy. I'd love to get out of the house for something, anything. But that won't happen until at least Tuesday. Yup, my life is so rough. (insert slight sarcasm here)

The children are finding all sorts of new ways to get into trouble in the back yard. Apparently if Mom and Dad are not looking, you can build a bridge over the creek with the little ones. Or dig a big gigantic hole in the middle of the yard. Ok, I can live with a hole if they'd asked first but they never do that. And the creek is an ok place to play if an adult knows where you are. Again, why bother asking when you can get in trouble later. I guess that option must be more fun. Perhaps the children are going a bit stir crazy as well. Or maybe they realize that these last few weeks of warmer weather should be enjoyed to their fullest. As long as they avoid swimming in mud puddles again, I'll be happy.

The picture above is Gabe trying to figure out how to play the train whistle. Lucky me, one more kid who is learning how to make obscene amounts of noise inside the house.

I suppose I should plan to use my weekend in some sort of productive fashion. You know, like sitting down with the lesson plans, writing out the quarterly reports, maybe planning the All Saints Day party we are supposed to be hosting on Friday. Or I could do the unthinkable and actually fold the 10 loads of laundry sitting around in various laundry baskets. But if I did that, what would I have left to assign to a surly child who can't seem to manage to quit running their mouth. Hm, that is something to consider.

I imagine that is more than enough random ramblings for one morning. I suppose it is time to get up and go deal with that diaper waiting for me. I so can't wait for Abby to actually potty train. Yup, dreaming here again but if you must dream, why not dream big.