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.