What We've Done This Week

I had grand plans for this week.  Then I got kind of sick and a few kids did as well.  Such is life.  We've learned about Abraham Lincoln.  The kids have also watched some science movies.  They've studied city planning and building.

Katie learned what a squat thrust was today.  The younger karate teacher is much better with younger kids and large groups than his dad seems to be which is a bummer since the dad is the instructor for our class.  Katie does not at all like not being able to do something someone else can.  A tad competitive but I think it will serve her well.  Bryan entered a photo contest.  Robert broke my keyboard (who knew a keyboard does not like to have soda and sugar poured all over it). The kids learned that when Mom cleans the schoolroom, a lot more of their stuff ends up in the trash than if they would have just done it themselves.  Nutella muffins are yummy. Credit card fraud sucks.  So do emergency dental appointments and a freezer full of 300 lbs of meat that is suddenly not freezing.  The salesman was wrong when he said I could not get a key for the lock for the freezer.  In other words, it's been a normal week.  Hopefully next week we will focus on Holy Week activities and finding a bit of quiet simplicity to help the kids realize that Holy Week is supposed to be something different.

One other thing. I've learned I can't write a post like this without having the Veggie Tales "What We Have Learned" song run through my head.  And I think it must stink to be Larry. I mean, I can't imagine loosing a hamster AND falling off a counter all in one day.  Must have been a heck of a fall for a cucumber.

Style, Sex, & Substance

When I first picked up the book Style, Sex, & Substance, randomly flipping through the book landed me in the chapter on sex.  After skimming a bit of that chapter I was convinced that this was a book I would truly dislike.  Now that I have read the entire book, I still say it certainly was not the best or most inspiring book I have ever read but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting.

In Style, Sex, & Substance, 10 popular women writers each tackle one major aspect of being a woman from a Catholic perspective.  The overall perspective of this book can be summed up using the following quote from chapter 3:

We work in the home and in the public square.  We go to Mass every single Sunday (sometimes more), eat bread that we call God and sip wine we call Blood.  We care about what that anciently-robed guy in Rome says, and we spill our sins to another human being.  We mate for life. We shun artificial birth control. Let's face it - we're, umm, different.  We're proudly pope-loving, sterilization-eschewing, Eucharist-adoring, confession-going, twenty-first-century Catholic specimens of femininity who buck societal normal and balk at contemporary expectations.  Yeah, we're the face of the new rebellion.

Each chapter ends with reflection questions to help you pinpoint the areas in your life that might need some extra focus.  These questions would be perfect for allowing you to use the book as part of a group book study since they will easily help spur discussions and thinking.

One thing I often had a hard time relating to in this book was the constant comments about all things girly.  The taking time to do your make-up, buy pretty shoes, wear the right clothes, put on jewelry and sweet smelling lotion to make sure you are pampering yourself properly.  I have never been a girly girl.  Ever.  When I can remember most feeling like myself were the times I was rock-climbing, rappelling, canoeing, running through the mud, spelunking, getting dirty and messy and doing anything other than being "girly."  So these reminders had me almost laughing by the end of book and wondering if perhaps there was something wrong with my way of doing things so I do admit that I wish there was at least one person in the book who mentioned that maybe these things might not work for you.

I still say the chapter on sex was pathetic and laughable.  After reading some of the ideas in that chapter to my husband, he agrees and we now have a few inside jokes that were born in that chapter.  Let's just say having a messy or cluttered bedroom has never hindered our intimacy in any way, shape or form.

This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Style, Sex, and Substance. They are also a great source for a baptism gifts or first communion gifts.

Because I Believe in Transparency. . .

. . .or at least mostly.  And because I don't want to be thought of as someone who just shares the picture perfect life is great moments, I bring you the scene from our kitchen this afternoon.

Isn't she just perfectly proud of the mess she made?  Can't you just picture the powdered sugar foot prints that are now trailing all through the house? Can't you just see the look on Alan's face when he sees the floor he just mopped the other day?  Can't you just see her older brother who is standing in the corner for his role in this escapade because we are always finding the child with his hand in the cereal, in the craisins, in the bread, in anything he thinks he can snatch (but oddly he never snatches chocolate chips)?  Yup, just another day in the Hitchings' house where we try to put out fires and clean up messes faster than you'd think was humanly possible and on some small level truly look forward to bedtime every night.  And not because the kids look so darn cute when they are sleeping.

Maple Sugar Festival

Our favorite local living history museum has been holding a maple sugar festival the past 2 weekends.  We have participated in maple sugar trail field trips twice but have never managed to make it out to the maple sugar festival on a regular weekend. Part of it was wanting to make sure we miss crowds but I have to say that there really were no crowds today. Perhaps the weather played a role in that since we've had a bit of a cold snap this weekend.

Bryan has been volunteering for the entire festival and enjoying himself.  This morning they were short on volunteers and Bryan called to ask if Sean could come in to help as well.  Sean was thrilled since he has been begging to be allowed to volunteer as well for quite some time.

This afternoon I took Katie, Liam, Abby, Gabe, and Ellie to museum.  It was a tad odd to be out with only 5 kids.  You quickly forget how easy it was to only manage a small crew.  We had a lot of walking to do so I'm rather glad that Robert stayed home with Alan.  Strollers aren't fun in the village due to uneven ground and Robert does not keep up with walking as easily as the other kids yet.

We visited several village shops and learned a bit about the ways maple sugar was used.  We also watched a chocolate making demonstration, sampled maple cough syrup, visited the cooper's shop to watch them make wooden buckets, sampled different types of syrup from different types of trees, and sampled maple sugar on snow candy.

The kids also made some maple leaf crafts and collected puzzle pieces for their maple passport at various houses in the village.  At the end of our tour they were able to turn the passports in for a piece of candy.

If you are wiling to pay for it, there is a wonderful pancake breakfast during the mornings of the festivals.  Bryan tells us that the pancakes were delicious (the volunteers were fed the first day) but we opted out of the pay activities this year, just using our membership for general admission.  Next year I think we will try to attend again but perhaps remember to bring some cash so we can try some maple cotton candy and popcorn or some vintage hot chocolate (made with a different form of the chocolate than we use in making hot chocolate today).

We were also able to see the pictures of the kids that are being used in the advertisements for the summer camps this year.  What can I say, the kids were cute.  Hm, wonder if that will earn us a tuition break on camp this September?

What We've Learned This Week

I'm hoping to start a weekly round up of what we are working on in school and life.  Sort of a way to keep be a tad more motivated and accountable.  I can remember planning lots of rather neat projects with the older kids when they were younger and I tend not to do that as often lately.  The current little ones deserve just as much fun stuff as the older kids did so I must get better.  And it is nice to give myself a reminder of what we actually have accomplished when it feels like Saturday night is ending with the same chaos and mess that greeted us at the beginning of the week.

This week everyone learned a bit about Harriet Tubman and the underground railroad.  Not a ton but a brief introduction. Katie and Liam started new math books this week. Kieran finished reading the Matchlock Gun and finished his current math book. He'll start the next one on Monday. Several kids went to Genesee Country Village with me for the Maple Sugar Festival.  We've done the maple sugar trips several times so the history of maple sugar in this area is not really new but we did learn a bit about the history of chocolate production.  The older 6 kids participated in the Homeschool Expo this weekend. Bryan built a computer, Sean did a project on car seat safety, Kieran did a project on space, Liam worked on rocket engines,  Katie studied dolphins, and Abby shared some of her projects from Little Flowers.  Bryan is starting to work on his second quarter tests for Kolbe.  Hopefully we will get those done this week.  So we are making progress. Maybe not totally on track but that really isn't too important in my book.

A Day At the Park

We went to the park today so the older kids could get together with some friends to practice karate.  May I admit I am just a tad frustrated with the current karate set up?  May have to think about it a bit. The kids seem to like it but everyone else gets 2 classes a week and now the instructor wants to cut down the class by 15 minutes for most of the kids so he can work with just the older ones. I'd really prefer he give us a second session a week or work an extra 15 minutes after class with the older ones.   Instead we are stuck meeting outside on our own time. Not fun. 

But the positive of going to the park is I usually come home with tired kids. And today I came home with some great pictures.

Happy Birthday Robert!

Robert is now 3.  For the next few weeks, we have a 3, 4, and 5-year-old in the house. Pretty darn cool if you ask me.

We celebrated Robert's birthday a day early.  All of the older kids were told to just pretend Tuesday was his birthday and Robert never knew the difference.  Younger children are so much fun.  Robert treated us all to dinner at Applebee's, then we came home for cake and ice cream.  

Robert is very much into trains at the moment so he was very happy with his presents.  Three new Thomas trains, 2 hats, and a few small trains that were on his cake.  He also received an outside climbing toy from his grandparents and a basketball net that hooks onto the back of his bedroom door.  The kid was very happy. 

After listening to the folks at Applebee's sing happy birthday to him after dinner, he joined us all in singing for him at home.  "Happy Birthday to Me!"  Here's to another wonderful year with a wonderful little boy.

My Storytime Bible

 We have children in this house of many different ages.  This means we also have a rather large assortment of bibles in the house to cover many different ages.  And yet I am still always on the look out for another book that just might grab the interest of another child because each child seems to learn in a slightly different manner.  It was with this in mind that I picked up a copy of My Storytime Bible.

In this book, many popular bible stories are told using easy to understand language for the littlest readers.  Every story is accompanied by bright attractive pictures. 

The stories are condensed into very small chunks.  This means that it is very easy to sit down and read 4 or 5 selections to your child at a time. 

My toddlers and preschooler enjoyed listening to this book but I found the stories were a bit too simple for even my younger elementary aged kids.  Personally, I would suggest this book for the 2-3 year-old range.  The pictures will keep their interest while the simple story lines won't go over their heads.  I would not rely on it for the only source of bible stories shared with young children because at times the stories are a bit too simple.  I found it was great for a quick story but not so much for in depth learning.

This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on My Storytime Bible. They are also a great source for a baptism gifts or first communion gifts.

The Other End of the Teeter Totter

We have a rather nice teeter totter in our backyard.  It was given to us by friends who found it in their yard when they bought a house.  Having only a baby at the time, they had no use for this large wooden teeter totter.  It appears to be homemade and it's obvious someone put a  lot of thought into its construction.  It is big enough for several children, the pivot point in the middle is adjustable so that different sized kids can play together.  In short, I am very glad Alan tossed it in the back of the van and brought it home.

Every time I see a group of kids playing on the teeter totter, I am reminded of a picture often used to describe the job of parenting a large family: that teeter totter.  You see, when you have a house chock full of young children, you are on the heavy end of the teeter totter.  You are the only one available to pull those kids up.  The only one around to buckle car seats, zip coats, hold hands in parking lots, change a diaper, make lunch, kiss a scraped knee, comfort a scared toddler, rock the sick baby to sleep.  But as your kids grow, the teeter totter starts to change.  Suddenly you have help.  You look around you and realize you have children sitting next to you on that other end of the teeter totter.  You have a wonderful group of older siblings who naturally reach down for that hand in the parking lot, a favored buddy that the crying toddler naturally runs to when he bumps his head, someone else available to make lunch, a willing volunteer to sit and rock that sick baby.  And slowly you find that the burdens of raising a large group of children are being lifted off your shoulders.  You are now starting to spend more time on the light end of the teeter totter.

Today I was able to go out with just my littlest one to pick up a birthday present for our soon-to-be three-year-old.  Even though my oldest child is still in bed recovering from whatever sickness struck our house this weekend, I was able to leave the other children in the hands of the second oldest.  Yes, it is likely that all the kids did while I was gone was sit in front of the tv and zone out.  But I didn't have to wait for Dad to get home from work to go birthday shopping.  When I came home, the preschoolers were napping, the lunch dishes were in the sink, the kitchen table had been cleared.  No, things were not perfect but the house had not fallen in on itself either.  I walked in (after twisting my ankle checking the mail) and was able to ask the children to help get the baby out of the van, get the box out of the back and help put the new toy together.  And then I was able to sit back and watch the pure excitement on the faces of the older children as they watched the younger ones enjoy the toy they had built for them.  Yes, I am on the other end of that teeter totter now.  And yes, I feel incredibly blessed.

It's Pi Day

Yup, today is Pi Day.   I know it is Lent but really, who wants to always pass up the fun opportunities to do something small and special with your family?  Personally I don't.  Of course, I totally stink in the prior planning department. Or maybe it's the knowing exactly what is in my pantry department.  See, today is grocery shopping day. I will be going tonight during Boy Scouts since I have to be in that end of town anyway.  So I won't be running to the store until later.  I knew I had pie crusts in the house and thought I had enough pie filling. But we did not can much pie filling this year and have used most of what we had up.  So we did not have enough left for a full pie.  So instead I made a chocolate pie. 

Not the greatest looking but I'm sure it will be yummy and that is all that counts.  Just ask Alan about the first time I made a banana cream pie from scratch. It looked wonderful but I was afraid to try it because that kind of pie filling really stinks when you are making it until the very last instant when you add the vanilla and the magic happens. So I sat back and fed it to my guests and just waited for a reaction before trying it myself.  Because I am that nice.  And they were all family anyway.  And it was blessedly delicious.  This one, well, it came out of a pudding box and I'm totally ok with that.  So happy Pi Day folks.  Hope you are enjoying it with a slice of something yummy.

St. Patrick's Day Painting

I wanted a quick and easy art project for the middle kids. Something we haven't done before. But have I mentioned that I am not at all creative?  Really, I'm not. I just read everything I can and constantly search for new ideas.  My inspiration for today's craft came from the wonderful family at Ten Kids and a Dog.

Believe it or not, the hardest part of this project was finding shamrock stickers.  Apparently you have to plan a month or so ahead of time for everything. The stores simply don't seem to understand that one week before St. Patrick's Day, frantic homeschooling moms are thinking about St. Patrick's Day crafts, not Easter ones.  So I searched for quite a while before I found them.  Paint, paint brushes, paint canvases, all easy to find.  The stinking shamrock stickers: next to impossible.

So what do you think?  Now to find a project that actually allows us to focus on St. Patrick in some way.  Maybe we'll make a bunch of snakes.  That would excite my kids who were out in the yard trying to catch the mice yesterday.  No, I don't condone such activities. I just try to pretend they aren't happening while telling the children "NO, you may not have any peanut butter to put in my canning jars to use to entice the poor mice with.  NO. Leave the poor creatures alone."  Until they venture into our house. Then they are free to capture the things and drown them in the creek.  I do have my limits.

A Day in the Life of Ellie

Having a Tea Party with Her Big Sister

Desperately Trying to Convince a Friend to Play with Her

Making a Fashion Statement

Really Getting into Her Books

Crashing After a Busy Day

Corning Museum of Glass

Just in case I haven't said it before, I believe that field trips are a very important part of every child's education.  In our family, we believe that the ability to take field trips on a regular basis is one of the benefits of homeschooling.  I will admit to being frankly baffled by those families who choose to avoid field trips in favor of more book time at home and view field trips as just a nice little small extra to be added in only when everything else is totally caught up or finished.  I've watched many times as a new interest was sparked by a field trip and a child made huge leaps in a skill after one.  They are also a wonderful way to give your kids inexpensive experiences that would normally not fit into the budget.  I've found educational discounts are often half off or more making the trips very affordable.  We've also been to many free trips.  Think outside the box and make sure to add field trips to your school year.  If for no other reason, the memories are priceless.

Today we visited the Corning Museum of Glass.  Alan and I have been talking about taking the kids to this museum for quite a while and were given the chance when a trip was arranged to see astronaut Cady Coleman talk about her time living on the International Space Station.  Basically two trips in one.

We saw a glass blowing demonstration and learned about the history of glass making.  For a few of the kids, the best part of the trip was probably the ride back to the parking lot on a bus.  I've found that all of my kids have been positively thrilled with bus rides when little. Probably because they always get to see buses on the road, but don't get to ride in them.

There was a lot to see and learn at the museum but I will admit that due to two young ones who were overtired and cranky, we were not able to see everything.  However I think the kids had a great time. 

Children and teens are free at this museum and they offer a military discount making this a very affordable trip.  You can also add in a ticket to an art museum in downtown Corning if you have the time and just ride the free bus shuttle to get there.  We opted out of that this time but might try visiting it if we have another chance to get to that area.

Katie in the Kitchen

Katie was in charge of dinner last night.  She did at least 90% of the work to make this alphabet soup for dinner.  She even helped with cutting up the meat.  It was absolutely delicious and super easy to make since you just put everything in the crock pot. 

We doubled the recipe and honestly should have tripled it or more.  As written the recipe really makes about 4 servings I think.  Or it could be that the crock pot we used does cook a bit hot so a bit of the broth was cooked off and I didn't quite add enough water back in during the day.  We used small shells instead of alphabet shaped pasta because that was what we had in the house.  I plan on picking up the alphabet pasta on the next shopping trip for the next time we make this soup.  I never buy stewed tomatoes so we just used diced instead and I'd imagine any tomatoes you have in the house would work.  I would just make sure you use something that is bigger than a puree so you actually see the tomatoes in the soup.  You can also easily keep the amount of beef in the soup small (only double the beef amount while quadrupling the soup recipe) without loosing out on taste which helps keep the cost in an economical range.  With the only processed food truly being the onion soup mix (which you can just switch out and use diced onions and a bit of beef broth instead), this is a wonderful meal to start your kids cooking.  Real food, real simple, really delicious.

How Firm a Foundation

As anyone who has spent any time reading Christian based fiction can attest to, you often have to let go of the idea of great writing to get a Christian view in a novel.  The book How Firm a Foundation by Marcus Grodi is a welcome exception to that idea.

How Firm a Foundation follows the life of Stephen LaPointe, a Congregationalist minister, through seminary, early ministry assignments, raising a family, and eventually dealing with a major crisis of faith.  This book clearly deals with a religious struggle but does so while still allowing the characters to live in a world many of us can recognize.

This fast paced book is chock-full of actual quotes from numerous religious books.  This means while I was being drawn into the characters lives, I was also finding that my own faith was being bolstered and supported.

All of the characters in the book felt very real to me.  I could find myself relating to the struggle many of these people experienced.  The real struggle ministers experience as they attempt to balance family life with tending to their church community was clearly demonstrated.  Whether you relate best to the teenager struggling to find a place in a new community, the spouse attempting to keep a family close while dealing with demanding work schedules, the married couple finding their bond tested by a difference of faith, or the father attempting to determine how best to provide for his family without ignoring his own beliefs, I guarantee there will be someone in this book who touches your heart.  Personally, I am looking forward to reading the second book in this story.

This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on How Firm a Foundation. They are also a great source for a baptism gifts or first communion gifts.