Happy Birthday Mary

A big feast day around here always calls for a special meal and desert.

We celebrated the birthday of Mary (september 8) with homemade pizza (yummy!) and spice cake with maple fluff frosting.

I was feeling especially domestic that day. We had high tea for lunch with triangle pbj sandwiches, kiwi fruit, and hot chocolate (and chicken nuggets LOL), and then we made the pizza dough in the breadmaker.

The smell of fall in the air always lures me into the kitchen to start baking again.

We Got a Kitty!!

Well, for one day, anyways.. that was long enough for me :-) This is Moto.. what a cutie pie! The kids found her sitting on our front door step, one morning looking very lonely for attention. She didn't have any tags, stayed around all day, and even ran inside once.

None of the neighbours were missing a cat, and since she didn't have any tags we didn't know what to do, so I went to my trusty-fix-all solution: Google. I found a really cool pet lost and found service online called PetLynx, and I posted a picture and matched up a description of the kitty, and then was automatically emailed matches of lost cats that fit my description. Sure enough, one of them happened to be moto's mommy.

They came over at once to retrieve her (she had been gone for almost a week), and we were all happy with the reunion... especially mommy and daddy who are allergic to the little animals.

Five kids and a laundry basket

Here's how we entertain our kids after dinner without having a TV in the house: give them a laundry basket and two babies to play with.

Dinner with our priest

Brave little me decided to invite our parish priest over for supper this week, and it happened that he could only come tonight. He told me this yesterday, so I had to scurry around the house cleaning all day, while thinking of something good to make for supper besides our normal 'mom with five small children' fare ( chicken nuggets, tacos, pizza, pasta).

Here's a short summary of the night:

1. Father comes early... (AHHH! I"m not ready!!). The kids are giggling upstairs hiding from the doorbell. The babies are still sleeping. I"m trying to make homemade biscuits and pudding cake at the same time.

2. I try to entertain father while reading my two recipes at once (bad idea) and keeping tabs on the three small children running around loudly at my feet. Daddy isn't home yet (where is he??)

3. ooops, that was one TSP not one TBS of baking pwd..(scoop, scrape, dump)... uh, which bowl did the salt go into?... oops! (no problem, I can multitask, I have twins!)

4. Speaking of twins, baby 1 wakes up crying, while i"m trying to put the carrots and potatoes on, take the chicken out, roll the biscuits and stir the pudding cake. Oh, and there's baby number 2 crying now.

5. Snapdragon the toddler runs by with her shirt off.. (why is she naked?? Where is daddy?) The kids are climbing up a shelf to get at the pictures they drew for the priest.

6. Uh-oh... they knock over a statue of St. Joseph, and in the process, his head falls off (again, but that's another story). Why do these things always happen in front of the priest? I'm still trying to cook the biscuits and I ask E to bounce P for me because he's crying for milk.

7. Finally, Daddy is home!! yay! He brings father into the living room for some grownup chat, the kids go wash their hands and we sit down for dinner: Fresh baked biscuits, carrots, peas, mashed potatoes and Salsa-chicken. For desert, pudding-spice-cake. Little snapdragon is very happy with our guest, and continually tells him to 'Watch ME!!' and pulls on his arm to make sure he's actually doing it. When he leaves she says 'Bye Bye Water' (she can't say F yet).

8. He leaves with a smile, telling us he's encouraged to see a loving young catholic family... daddy was happy to have a nice dinner complete with tablecloth and desert, and the kids are still running in circles through the house giggling.

9. "we should do this more often", says Daddy.

"Right", I say. "after I have a few months to recover... and we get St. Joseph's head fixed".

We're Famous!!

Well, not really, but I'm so excited that Storynory wrote about us on their blog. How exciting!!
We're also listed on the Math-U-See blogroll too, and just last week a newspaper man called and wanted to interview us for a story on large families (if you're in my city, look for us in the Neighbours section mid september.. unless of course they thought everything I had to say was just not cool enough to make the newspaper).

Maybe I should go get my hair done, because I'm sure next up, Oprah will be knocking on my door. (maybe I should go clean the kitchen instead of blogging!!)

School today...

While the rest of the world is starting school again today, (and I need to remember not to speed through school zones again), we are still living the same old homeschooling life we've always led.

No stressful back-t0-school shopping trips, fighting over what clothes, shoes, binders, pencils, backpacks, and other assorted items that they just HAVE to have.

No rushing out the door in the morning, and rushing out the door in the afternoon so as not to be late.

No tired kids complaining about homework, after they've been at school all day. No papers to lose, no books to drag back and forth in a heavy backpack, no fancy lunches to be made to compete with the other kids.

No money to fork over for school fees, lunch fees, bus fees, school supplies. No time spots to sign up for volunteer time, committees to join, or field trips to supervise.

Just the normal chaos of us.

Here is how we spent our day:

7:00 am sharp: snapdragon the toddler wakes me out of a deep sleep, kisses me on the forehead and crawls into bed with me. I try in vain to go back to sleep.

7:30 am: Z the preschooler wanders in, and climbs into the other side of the bed.

7:45 am: Breakfast for the 3 of us... yogurt and granola.

8:00 am: Baby number 1 joins us.. straight to his highchair for breakfast.

8:15 am: Baby number 2 is awake, and E the 6 year old is now awake too. Breakfast all around. E helps feed the babies. Z and H pull out the 'ball game' and convince me to sit and play with them for 30 min, learning about colors, numbers, shapes and letters (or how to take turns without crying, and how to lose gracefully).

8:30 am: the kids unload the dishwasher, clean off the table, and we start school.

8:45 am: Speed math. E practices her math facts. (addition) Z and H fight over toys in the other room, the babies are still eating breakfast in their highchairs.

9:15 am: Math-U-See lesson 21: Subtraction with 9s. We all watch the math lesson on the laptop, (well the babies wanted to watch, but they couldn't see, so they just pulled on my legs and tried to pull the computer down off my lap, so we moved into the kitchen and watched it at the table, while I distracted the babies and changed their diapers.

10:30 Wow, that took longer than I wanted... hard to get math done when the babies and H are underfoot. Must teach E how to be more self-sufficient while doing her work pages. Now we have 'break': snack (yogurt and applesauce and raspberries), and a short 10 min play session. Both babies went for a nap.

11:00 phew! Is it really almost lunch?? Time for reading: E reads to me a story in Little Angels book 2 about Duke and Luke catching crabs in the sand dunes, and then does a few workbook pages on long-u vowels. She is really getting better at reading!! Meanwhile, H has removed her diaper, and I take the opportunity to have a short potty-learning lesson. She is excited to get smarties if she can pee pee on the potty. We pull out the plastic potty from the basement and she sits on it for 5 seconds.

11:20 reading is done. Recess!! Kids run off to play. Meanwhile, baby number one is crying in his crib. Upon investigation, I find him standing buck naked in his crib, cold and wet. He had apparently taken his own diaper off before he fell asleep (I wondered what he was playing with when I heard him gibbering in his crib before he went to sleep... at least it wasn't a yucky one). Anyways, he woke himself up in the middle of his nap time because he had peed and got cold.

Baby one comes downstairs to help with teaching H how to use the potty. Maybe he could use a lesson too?

12:00 Lunch time: leftover pasta and meat sauce, frozen peas, frozen blueberries. I read aloud from our latest Little House book, Little House in the Highlands (the unabridged version of course) H gets up and down from her chair 30 times, sits on the potty 5 times, and eventually goes PEE!! She celebrates with a hand full of smarties. Baby number two wakes up and joins the party. He eats chicken pasta soup, frozen peas, leftover pancakes.

And that is our school day. At least the stuff that we routinely do. Of course the rest of the day is spent playing, reading science and history books off the kids bookshelf, creating elaborate stories with the Little People toys, playing dress up, running around outside, watching the birds and squirrels in our yard, listening to Storynory, and drawing pretty pictures.

All in all, I enjoy our life a lot. It is a bit crazy at times, with so many littles around, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

A is for....

As promised last week, I am slowly going to fill in an Encyclopedia of Me. A collection of posts all about me, my life, and my loves. Hopefully this will help me take the time to really appreciate who I have become, where I have come from, what I have been blessed with, and where I am going. I rarely have a moment to reflect on anything these days, so this will help me carve out a small scrap of space in my mind (and blog) for me.

A is for...

Abundance

I have been blessed with an abundance of many things:

Grace to get through each day
Love from my darling husband
Children (my five precious sweetie pies)
Bedrooms (thank you God!!)
Family (and almost all of them live within babysitting distance)
Friends
Money
Clothes (in various sizes, seasons and genders... oh, and the maternity ones, the transitional-after-baby-ones, and the "surely-I'll-fit-back-into-this-one-day" ones)
Socks (both the paired and non-paired variety)

the only thing I lack is sleep (but that's a whole other post).

trying to watch a movie with the babies....

... is rather pointless, although quite entertaining.

food for thought...

Study on Preschool and early child education shows no benefit...

So all you homeschooling moms who are worried about not getting started soon enough or missing out on teaching something important in those early years... you can relax now :-)

Home sweet home

I love coming home.

The sight of the familiar, the warmth of our worn floors and furniture, the feeling of being taken care of and loved. Even when my house is messy, I still love coming home to it, because it's... well.. home. Especially for a mom with five kids under seven who needs to be constantly aware of where they are and what they are doing- home is where I can relax, let my guard down and let the kids play.

Because we are a homeschooling family, we spend a lot of time at home, the kids spend a lot of time in the yard, and we spend a lot of time wandering around the neighborhood. In short, if any family needs a good home, it's us.

That is why we feel so enormously blessed to have found our new home. This is so much more than a house for us. The minute we saw this house, we fell in love with it, and the longer I am here, the happier I am with it. I am not even detered by it's age (32 years old.. older than me!!), nor the fact that there are many more bugs here than our newly built first home. (motherhood has made me very brave. I can camly squish all sorts of bugs in kleenex, pull big huge fuzzy caterpillars off my curtains, stomp on ants, and vacuum up centipedes. I can even stand still while bees buzz around my head).

We moved at the beginning of august, and while it's been a whirlwind, and I'm still not unpacked yet, I love being here. So I'll stop talking so much and give you a tour!! Today you can see the first half and when I get the rest of the house cleaned up you can see the second half LOL... I'm not sure if the whole house will ever be clean at the same time, so this will have to do.

Living room:


We've never had a living room before, this is a treat for me to have a room that is(supposed to be) unlittered with toys. It's a quiet space to enjoy company, pray as a family at night, and practice the piano. A place to read quietly on the couch, drink tea with my husband while the children clean up the kitchen after dinner, and watch the birds in the big spruce tree outside.


Kitchen/eating area:

The kitchen is a different layout from our old house, but it is still very workable. The hanging cupboards open from both sides, so the kids can easily set the table for me from one side, and unload the dishwasher from the other side. There is a desk in the kitchen with a bullentin board that I a like to sit at with the laptop while relaxing in the aternoons, planning my school days, and doing general household administration (thinking about, and making plans for school, meals, laundry.. but not actually DOING anything LOL).

I love the window over the kitchen sink. It looks into the backyard, so I can watch the birds and squirrels, and of course the kids.



Homeschooling Room:


This used to be a dining room, but it makes the ideal learning room for us. It has a lovely picture window that looks onto the side yard. There is a big cherry tree outside which the birds frequent. We are going to install a bird bath and a bird feeder out there so we can spend time watching birds and learning more about nautre up close. There's a family of 5 robins that live in our yard or very near, and we have enjoyed watching their antics the last week or so.

I'll have a bigger post on our learning room in the next month or so as I get it organized the way I want it. It's such a treat to have so much room here.



Living Room:



This is a sunken room with a warm fireplace, wooden mantle and built in shelving, and a patio door to the deck. We are going to replace the flooring soon, to a warm hardwood with some nice braided area rugs. Right now, this room holds the baby toys, a few kid toys, and some of our grownup fiction books. We want to get a nice leather couch, two leather recliners, and a coffee table and use the space as a true family room. A warm space for gathering with the kids after dinners and on the weekends to play games, read books, sit by the warmth of the fire, drink hot cocoa. The possibilites are endless!!

Kids bedroom :



E, Z and H all sleep here together. They didn't want their own rooms -- they love being together. Eventually we'll likely have a girls room and a boys room, but for now they are all in here and love it. It used to be two rooms, but they knocked out a wall and now it's one big fun room!

Oh babies

Cute cute cute... I love this age.





The babies are getting into lots of mischief:

-Crawling at super speed

-Sitting up really good now

-Eating everything ( and all the leftovers on the floor too) P is especially fond of Popsicles LOL

-Crawling up the stairs

-Pulling the sliding screen door open and crawling outside

-Pulling all the books off my shelves

-Crawling off the beds backwards (most of the time)

- Crawling down the stairs backwards

-Walking along furniture

-walking across the floor pushing things like chairs, toys, each other

-babbling: na na na, da da da, ma ma ma, SCREEECH!! (JP), Phllleeeeeeshhhsssspp! (P)

-sitting up in the bathtub. (strange, but I put them inside a laundry basket inside the tub. It keeps them from falling over and gives them something to hold onto).

-waving hello and bye bye (P)

We're planing a big party for them next month when they turn ONE. Stay tuned for details!

Encyclopedia Of Me

This is a fun project that will keep me busy for a time here... I'm joining in on a meme called the Encyclopedia of Me, which was started by Cassi over at Belladia. We'll see how far I get into the alphabet, but watch for these posts every couple of days.

I am trying to use this blog as a virtual scrapbook of our family life and our homeschooling adventures, so most of what I put on here is for my own memories for later when I want to remember what it was like when... This project calls for you to type a blog entry for each letter of the alphabet listing things about your life, creating an encyclopedia of sorts about yourself. Sounds like fun!! Come join me with your own encyclopedia if you'd like!! Not all of us have the time or patience to make beautiful scrapbooks, but we all have a few seconds to type something down, or write in a journal.

Ok, off to bed I go. Watch for the letter A coming soon.

the dilemma

I really want to blog about our new house and show you some wonderful pictures so you can enjoy my new home with me. I have a lovely post all written up ready to go, just waiting for the pictures.

However, because I'm breaking my own rule about not going on the computer until after lunch time so I can clean and do all that house-wifey stuff... the house is MESSY and I have no pictures. (can't show you a messy house and break the illusion of what a perfect housewife/mother/homeschooler you have of me).

So... I guess you'll have to wait. Until I clean up.

Might take awhile. (shhh.. I'm not even dressed yet, and it's almost 11!!)

I guess that's why I made that rule in the first place.

oh, and then there's the small matter of having to clean up the mess of having had my wallet stolen over the weekend. grrrr.

Will I really need THAT much help?

I hope this isn't a sign of things to come... although he has been right before with some other very strange tidings...

me: " Will you guys take care of me when i'm old and grey? Will you help feed me when I need help eating and push me around in a wheel chair?"

z: "yeah... like when you need help with your fork because it's too big and your hand can't reach it... (motioning with his hands to show a fork the size of the milk carton)... we'll screw it down for you so you can use it... no, we'll take it back to the store and get you a smaller one".

He just cracks me up. Having a conversation with him is always an adventure.

Preschooling at Home

Children at the age of 3 and 4 are at some of the sweetest ages they will ever be. To be able to spend full days with them, discovering the world and lighting the fires of their curiosity and discovery is truly a gift and a privilege. Preschool at home is a blessing for the whole family as it sets the stage for a family life full of wonder, learning, and togetherness. For mom, it is fun, and even relaxing if she can let go of her perfectionism and allow herself to just enjoy the time and 'play', learning new things right alongside her children.

When your preschoolers stay home with you, instead of going off to school each day, you gain on so many levels:

-their younger siblings have a playmate, and someone to help them when mommy is busy
-mommy doesn't have to drag everyone around in the car or stroller each day, twice a day.
-mommy (not a teacher you don't know, or young children who aren't formed yet) is the primary influence in their growing spiritual, emotional and intellectual lives
-mommy has something to distract her from the daily chores of laundry, dishes, meals and diapers. It opens up a whole new world for her to immerse herself in and learn about.
-the child has so much more time with family, and more opportunities for real life learning, through doing chores at home, going to the store, visiting Jesus at daily mass, going to the library etc...
-you can still have a daily quiet time, or daily nap without being rushed out of the house each day... and the younger siblings don't have to be rushed through their naps either.
-you can use the money you saved on preschool fees and gas to buy really good books, art supplies, and other fun preschool-at-home supplies that you will be able to use with each of your children.
-It's so much fun!!

There are many many resources for the new homeschooling parent who wants to begin in preschool. It's becoming a very popular choice, so you won't be alone if you choose to go this way.

Many mothers who have been homeschooling for awhile already, will likely tell the new homeschooling mother to relax, not worry about a formal program until grade one, and enjoy this time by reading lots of good books, letting them color and draw, and spend lots of time outdoors in nature.

For the new homeschooling mother, this can sometimes be scary advice, because she is trying to set up a routine for doing 'school' at home for the first time, and needs a bit more structure than just snuggling on the couch with good books. I am of the mindset that with your first child, homeschooling for preschool and kindergarten is more of a training ground for MOMMY than it is for the child. It gives her time to get her feet wet, figure out the different philosophies and resources for homeschooling and dabble in them to see what fits her, and her family the best. It gives a slow easy transition from playing all day to more of a routine, and all without the pressure of the local school board wondering what you are up to.

When a mom is already homeschooling an older child, it is much easier to ease the new preschooler into the pre-established routines and order.. and they are learning right alongside their siblings already, so you don't often have to formally teach things like the alphabet and colors and numbers.

So, for anyone who is wanting a bit of structure or a look into how other people have started the home school journey with preschool/kindergarten, I will lay out a list of Good Books to read, online resources, stores, curriculum and fun stuff for you. If it seems like too much information all at once, then ask me any questions you have. I can tell you what we did, and what I would do if I had to do it over again with my first child.

For me, I really like to have LOTS of information, because that is my personality LOL.. so here is just a piece of all of the resources out there. Please know, however, that all of this is truly optional. Your preschooler will learn all of this stuff eventually whether you start now and take 2 years, or start in grade one and take 2 months.

1. Good Books to Read:

Many of these can be found at the library, and the other ones can be bought online or can be borrowed:

Real Learning -- One of my very favorite homeschool books. The author has a blog, and a very good message board where you can learn from other catholic homeschoolers.

Catholic Homeschool Companion

Charlotte Mason Companion - full of gentle learning ideas from nature study to crafts to chores, etc.. a really good book.

Guiding Your Catholic Preschooler

The Well Trained Mind -- classical education. a great book, but you need to take it with a grain of salt and not worry about trying to do everything in the book. It's very inspiring though.

Design your Own Classical Curriculum -- a Catholic classical education book. very good!!

2. Online Resources

A Magical Childhood -- A wonderful website dedicated to just plain childish fun. "this site was born out of my desire to share ideas and celebrate the neat parents out there. In an age when kids are getting scoliosis from toting home such heavy backpacks and people are trying to teach their infants French, I thought it was high time there was a place that focused on plain old happy, goofy, silly, leisurely life for our children"

Mater Amabilis -- Free online Catholic lesson plans. This is based on a Charlotte Mason style education. Looks really good. I will follow a lot of this with zach in kindergarten.

Letter of The Week - free online preschool curriculum

Starfall.com -- free online learn-to-read program. It's really good!!

Preschool Express -- lots of good ideas and printouts

Preschoolers and Peace -- This is a protestant website about homeschool preschoolers. They have some good organizing help on there.

Real Learning Blog -- a wonderful collection of essays on homeschooling the preschooler. This mom has 8 kids, I think, and still enjoys the preschool years.

http://www.janbrett.com/ -- popular children author's website.

3. Actual Curriculum to buy (you don't NEED to buy anything, but if you want here are some good resources):

CHC -- they sell daily lesson plans with preschool and kindergarten in one pack. They are very gentle, catholic and sweet. This is a very popular program with lots of help for the new homeschooler.

Sonlight -- a protestant, literature based curriculum that is very very popular and looks like lots of fun. You get an instructor guide to follow each day, and a whole bunch of books to read with your child. It is a very comprehensive program and lots of fun. Right now they have a special on where you can try it for 30 days for Free with free shipping and if you don't like it, just return it.

Five in a Row -- a 'light' cuddle on the couch and read stories sort of curriculum. It weaves in math, reading, art, social studies, science etc.. using picture books. This is very popular among homeschoolers. Not as 'academic' as most curriculum, but lots of fun to do.

Little Saints -- a full catholic preschool lesson guide that gives you themes for each week, schooling for 3 days a week. Includes Craft templates, coloring pages, game ideas, circle time, finger play, book lists for the library for each week, etc.. We used this for a while and really liked it. It does involve a bit of planing for mom. You have to photocopy things and prepare the crafts ahead of time, but it's fun for the kids and gives you structure.
You can buy it here and often there are copies on ebay.

Seton -- a Catholic academic program that is done with lots of workbooks etc... they have a kindergarten program that is supposed to be good, but not as 'fun' or 'light' as some of the other programs. You can register your child as a student with them and they will grade their work and send you report cards etc ... or you can just use their lesson plans and books without registering.

Rod and Staff -- a set of 5 workbooks that are great for preschool.. they teach pasting, cutting, coloring, letters, numbers, and bible stories. They are pretty inexpensive and are a fun way to do more 'schooly' stuff. We used these with my oldest.
Mother of Divine Grace

My Father's World -- kindergarten curriculum that is quite popular among protestants.

Hi!!!

My husband told me I should really post something on here. Poor guy has nothing better to do at work than check my little blog. Just kidding.

We are actually still alive, and we are in our new house. We LOVE it. I will update soon. Life is a bit crazy right now.

If you are they praying type, please ask God to ask my children to sleep for longer stretches (at the same time).

What a boring post. but i'll certainly be back to my normal chatty super-cool-bloggin type soon.

Can you believe the babies are going to be ONE next month?????

good bye old friend

You have been so good to us, little house.

We knew you before you were created.

We picked your colors, your patterns, your decorations.

We planted your grass, your flowers, your trees.

We built your fence, your gates, your garden.

We cleaned your floors, your bathrooms, your windows.... over and over.

We love you.






You gave us warmth, shelter, and comfort.

You were a nest to birth 4 children in.

You were our first school room.

You graciously hosted many Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter dinners.

You endured countless birthday parties with many many children running up and down your stairs.

You stood strong against children drawing on your walls and floors, and banging on your doors.

You loved us.

We will always remember you!

my week

packing

feeding babies

feeding big kids

feeding myself

packing

changing diapers x3

feeding babies

putting kids down for naps

packing

making dinner

doing laundry

packing

feeding babies, kids

changing diapers

packing.

oh, the excitement!!

letters to heaven

E came to me this afternoon with a letter that she had written for Jesus:

Dear Jesus, I love you and I love Mary. To Jesus, From E.

She cut it out in the shape of a crown, and decorated it. Then, she told me she was going to throw it up into the sky and let it float on the wind up to heaven for Jesus to have. She walked out the door, and tossed it up..

What faith, young children have. What lively, trusting, loving faith.

... it landed in a puddle, and she proceeded to pick it up, climb up high onto the gate and tossed it again. It still didn't catch the wind, and she looked a little sad, so I suggested maybe she try mailing it and she brightened right up.

She quickly ran to the mailbox and tossed her letter in, telling me that maybe Jesus would write her back.

Later on, after she was reflecting on it, she said to me " I hope the mailman is a Catholic, so he'll know to give it to Jesus!".

Now she is busy crafting up something else.. I heard mutterings of sending a daisy and letter to Mary, and I caught a drift of her taping it to a big balloon that can fly up to heaven. She also wants to know what the Ten Commandments are so she can draw up a big sign and post it on our wall so we know how to be good. Uh-oh, guess I better start behaving too ;-)

Now I know what Jesus meant when he said that we must become as little children to enter the kingdom of heaven. They truly know how to believe.

getting cuter every day

Look at my cuties! Sharing a plate of cheerios on the front lawn.

Having twins is still so much fun. I am loving every minute of it.
What are they up to these days?

Climbing the stairs
Pulling up to stand along the couch, the door, the beds, and anything solid really
Walking with someone holding their hands
crawling faster than a speeding bunny
eating lots of food with their 4 teeth each (popsicles are their favorite..)
saying 'mamamamama' when they are grumpy and want me
making messes wherever they go

Lemonade!!

The kids wanted to make a lemonade stand, and today - being the dreadfully hot day it was - turned out to be the perfect day for it.

They shopped for the lemonade, made the sign, and set up shop on the corner of our busy street, yelling at cars as they drove by.

They didn't do too bad:



4 pitchers of lemonade
1 bottle of sunscreen
2 popsicles
1 dumptruck for decoration
1 big sign
2 cute kids
1 lesson in counting change
$28.55



Even the Ice Cream truck stopped to buy a glass!!

do I really?

E, to me, after she listened to me arguing with my husband about some silly thing for awhile one evening:

...."Mommy, you talk like Anne of Green Gables".

I'll take that as a complement, although I think she thinks I talk too much. hmph!

hangman anyone?

Who says you can't play Hangman if you don't know how to spell, or read for that matter?

Here are E and Z playing Hangman, after their babysitter taught them this fun game. I was skeptical at first when they wanted to play it together after she left.

"But, E" I said, "Z doesn't know how to read. He doesn't even know all his letters yet!" (and you can't spell very many words either, I thought)

Silly me, why should they let that stop them?

Here's a game in full swing with both of them having a great time. The answer apparently is Toucan, but neither of them care if it's spelled wrong. How do they even know what a toucan is anyways??

growing every day

Feast of St. Benedict

What a glorious day!!
The resident artist in the family liked my coloring job (R) of St. Benedict's picture, that she wanted to copy it (L)!! You know, immitation is the finest form of flattery.
These are from the coloring book Fenestrae Fidei: A Coloring Companion to Catholic Mosaic, still a big hit at our house.

And St. Benedict is a twin. They are everywhere!!

The little engine that could...

... by my kids.

Some kids act out movies and tv shows. Some kids play video games and watch television. Some kids go to school and work all day, some kids get dressed even!! But not my kids.. they act out scenes in books, and have a great time doing it.

This is from The Little Engine That Could and was inspired by a treasure box given to little Z from my grandma. He loves this box and has carted it all over the house for the past week now. I'm just glad I got to them while they were still thinking of how to get Zs nose painted red so he could look like the clown in the book. I told them to use their imaginations :-)

I love their creativity.

ok let meez join in on the fun

ht: ruth

learning the alphabet

I can hardly believe that my little baby boy has grown up into a bustling, curious four year old already. He is so smart, and full of questions all day long. He wants to know very specific things, like "what would happen if our house was a boat and we were playing cards on a table and there was a big wave that tipped our house sideways....?".


He likes to help daddy cut the lawn each week too. He follows him around with his little plastic mower and the look on his face is so proud. On friday, he told me, with a very grown-up look on his face, that "when I'm a grown-up like daddy, I can go to work too!" I guess it's time to teach him the alphabet and get a start on some of his very own schoolwork!!


We got him his very own binder, and he has started filling it with his own 'work'. He's done some coloring pages from the Catholic Mosaic coloring book, colored a map of canad for canada day, and started learning the alphabet from all the wonderful resources on line to print out.

For now, preschool will be very simple, and in the fall we'll try and add in some of the wonderful ideas that can be found over on the Real Learning blog by Elizabeth Foss.


This morning, we are all enjoying coloring these letters from Everything Preschool. They are big outlines of each letter of the alphabet, filled with pictures of plants and animals that start with that letter. Too bad they don't have a key telling us what the names are.


Other good preschool links we enjoy:

Higher Up and Further In preschool page

Everything Preschool

Enchanted Learning

Preschoolers and Peace

Letter of the week

Learning planet

Preschool Express

Subtraction here we come!!

We've officially graduated from the first half of our math book.. addition, and we are moving into the world of subtraction. YAHOOO!!!! I still have only good things to say about Math-U-See. It has been a great program for our family.

The blocks are fun for everyone (including the babies) to play with, and the DVDs with Steve Demme are a real hit for the kids.

I also love how the workbook pages are plain old black and white without any fancy pictures or fonts. It helps keep my very distractable and doodling daughter on task. :-)

Here are some of the neat things I found on their website:

• a blog
• online drill pages and a
• worksheet generator that are useful even if you aren't using MUS,
• some free Mental Math exercises to help learn your math facts,
• piano music of the skip counting songs
• a Really cute Mac the Muskrat version of the skip counting songs. This is free, and a great way for the kids to memorize their math facts.

summer evenings

how to vacation with 5 kids under 7

We just went on an adventure.. a suprise vacation for the family!!

Who says you need to be super organized and planned with five kids under 7?? When I think back to the days of just one or two children, and all of the stuff we would take, and the time it would take to pack and get organized to go on a trip with the kids, I am amazed at what we just accmoplished yesterday.

Sean and I have been wanting to learn the Creighton model of NFP for some time now, and it happened to work out that we could meet with a teacher yesterday. The only problem: she was in a different city 3 hours north of us, and we found out the day before.

No problem!! We are used to excitment and spontaneity around here (since the twins were born)... we booked a hotel for the night, piled the kids in the car first thing the next morning and drove up to meet with her.

Here's our trip in a nutshell:

4 hours driving each way
5 car seats
5 opportunities to grow in our charity towards others
1 suitcase to hold 7 people's things
1 big stroller to push around the 3 littles
1 loaded diaper bag
1 BIG bag of wipes
1 hotel room with
1 king size bed in it's own room, and
1 queen pull out couch in the living room
2 playpens
2 trips to the biggest mall on earth!!
301 comments about the stroller, the number of kids we have, and the twins
5 happy faces
2 tired, but happy faces
1 messy van
5 sleeping angels (after all that excitement)

I am convinced that the key to enjoying life with children, is to CHANGE YOUR EXPECTATIONS about how you think things should go.

If I had all the money in the world...

... I would likely spend most of it on BOOKS!!

The Summer 2007 Edition of the Catholic Homeschool Resources newsletter by Michelle Grunkemeyer is out, and there are many things I would love to add to our growing collection.

This newsletter, btw, is a great resource for catholic homeschoolers.. it's published through a yahoo group a few times a year, and always has interesting products and ideas. I highly reccomend signing up for it.

Here are the highlights that I am excited about:

1. A new series of Saint books by Arcadius Press for kids in graphic novel style. (never heard of this 'style' but it looks really cool!)

2. A wonderful new Catholic coloring book suitable for all ages. I just bought this and LOVE it. The kids have been coloing the beautiful pictures all day. What's nice about this is that it has the publisher's permission to photocopy the pages for your children's use instead of having to buy another book each time. It's called A Coloring Companion for Catholic Mosaic by Sean Fitzpatrick

3. The Little Woman Hospitality Program. Oh fun!! A program that teaches the lost art of hospitality... how to set and clear a table, correspondance, sewing, cooking, preparing a room for a guest... I need this one for myself LOL.

That reminds me of another homemaking curriculum I wanted to buy by The Pearables.

Of course, we all know that what I really need isn't a fancy curriculum to teach us how to be good housekeepers... I REALLY need a maid!!!

Lately...

We've been pretty busy.


Here's what we've been learning:

the twins:
-how to climb up on anything and everything.
-how to climb INTO everything
-how to eat a variety solid food
-how to sit up in high chairs

Snapdragon:
-how to draw on paper (NOT on walls, or the floor, or her self)
-how to glue things
-how to say just about anything she wants
-how to roll snakes out of playdough

Z:
-how to build really good train track layouts
-how to stay out of trouble by not hitting your brother or biting your sister when they wreck your really good train layouts
-what sounds the letters in the alphabet make (courtesy of that great leap video)

E:
-how to backstitch and embroider
-how to handsew
-how to spell
-how to add things that equal 9 and 10
-how to add her 1s and 2s.

Mommy:
-How to deal with the laundry mountain that 5 children produce
-how to embroider (made a pillow for my grandma, and one for my friend's newborn)
-how to get by on very little sleep and stay happy.

We've also been to the Science Centre, Heritage Park, gone for a few walks, braved the crowded farmer's market with our big stroller, and almost made it on time to church a few times.

Mostly though, we just can't WAIT to move to our new house.

Prizes!! Who can resist?

Danielle Bean, the senior editor of Faith and Family Magazine (a beautiful magazine by the way... one I would love to have a gift subscription for, Wink Wink!!) is hosting an Online raffle this week.

It's in support of a very worthy cause: St. Gianna's Maternity Home in Warsaw, North Dakota. A 9,000 square foot home that welcomes women in crisis pregnancies (regardless of faith), provides them with a safe, secure environment in which to live, and gives them access to the medical, educational, and professional services they need to choose life for their babies.

You might not win a dream home or a new car, but the tickets are cheap at $5 each, and there are lots of fun prizes on the list. Especially if you are a Catholic homeschooler like me ;-)

We're not the only ones

...to get a new house. My sister and her husband just moved into their brand new house last month and we had the privilege of breaking it in for them on the first day of possession :-)

Without lots of furniture to clutter things up, the kids had a great time running around.

preschool drawing lessons...

... by E the first grader.

"I'm going to teach you how to draw, Z".

"You see this?... This is Mr. Star. He is sad because he doesn't have any friend stars. Can YOU draw him a friend star?"

What a thrill!

Thomas the Tank Engine came to our historical park this spring and we got to go for a ride!! What a thrill for our little boy. Both sets of grandparents came with us, and we had fun all morning in the warm sunshine. The kids went on rides, got their faces painted, rode the train and had ice cream and candy.