Fall fun .... a little work too.

We finally spotted another praying mantis. So glad they are back!

Ruth is allowed to play with playdough during her Live Lessons. It helps her concentrate. Don't ask....it just does. (Just like me knitting helps me to be able to stay focused during sermons.) Well, this is what she makes.

We have a new pet. His name is Oscar. He is a woolly worm that Ruth and I 'rescued' from the middle of the road. They eat the leaves of violets and lambs quarter. Learn something new every day around here!

Jason canned some peppers using my Grandma's recipe. He is also going to make me some hot pepper jelly. At least, I hope he is. Then, he saved some of the seeds for next year. These were heirloom peppers which means the seeds should grow next year. If your peppers are a hybrid, they may not grow from seed.

We made the gallon jug ghosts that I saw on Pinterest. We used sharpies and bic pens for the jugs. I cut a small hole in the back, and we put in those little battery operated candle lights. The ones on Pinterest used Christmas lights, but I want to be able to move them around easily from the front porch to the back deck to where ever I feel like it. Jason took the middle picture. Looks pretty good, huh?

Ruth and I found the wooden masks on sale at JoAnns. For around a dollar. The kids used the poster markers (they have wide tips) to color in their masks. Then, they used puffy paint to outline different areas. Last, I let the use GLITTER! Glitter always makes my mom cringe - she used to work with preschoolers. Glitter and preschoolers do not always mix well. :-)

These two projects were pretty much free. I had to buy the candle lights and the masks. Yes, I had all the sharpies, bic pens, poster markers, puffy paint and glitter. Usually what I do, whenever I see something like that on clearance, or on sale, or I have an excellent coupon, I will snatch it up. Then, all I have to do is go to Momma's magic craft cabinet box and pull something out.

I really need to get the kids craft stuff organized. Anyone have any good, next to free, ideas??

I am alive!

I really didn't mean to take the month of August off blogging but that is just how it worked out. With Eian starting school just a little ways into August (they take a week off in October for the Fair), and Ruth and Abbe starting home/online school the next week. Sigh. The month just got away from me.

We switched online schools this year. This new school is MUCH, MUCH MORE intense. I really like all that they provide. It has just been a pretty big adjustment from last year's online school and adding Abbe into the mix..... All of this has made for a few stressful weeks.

Yes, we have decided to keep Abbe home this year also. Last year ended up being a pretty good year for Ruth. So, with the doctor concluding that all of Abbe's stomach issues were due to her stressing herself out, we decided we would try it with her also.

So, now our kitchen/dining area has two computer desks and computers and school areas. Jason said he didn't know where else we could stuff something else in here. Jason and I sit at the laptop at the kitchen table off and on while we are helping the girls. This way we can see what they are doing and also try to get some things accomplished.

As most of you know, we decided to keep Ruth home last year after a very trying and difficult 5th grade year in regular school. Ruth has ADHD and very high anxiety which feed off of each other in a vicious circle. (Yes, we went to Children's Hospital for diagnosis. Yes, she sees a counselor. Yes, she takes medicine but at the very lowest level available. Yes, I did not want to believe the diagnosis when they told me. My child could not have this. Any hooo...) Ruth was getting bullied and was retaliating. So, Ruth was getting in trouble and not the girls who were doing the bullying. The teachers really tried to do something about this but they did not have the back up from the principal for any real change to happen. All of this was having a very negative affect on Ruth's self confidence which was already not very high anyway due to the ADHD and high anxiety. Another vicious circle for my girl. Having been bullied myself in High School, I know what it can do to a person's self confidence. And at age 10.....well, I knew something drastic needed to happen for my girl. My mom has said that she has noticed a huge positive change in Ruth over the past year which makes me happy. Especially since doing school at home is a pretty big challenge for the whole family.

Yes, that previous paragraph had a lot of "hot topic" words in it. Sigh. And I can see a lot of people rolling their eyes right now about the ADHD, the bullying, the stomach issues, the high anxiety.... These words are in the press a lot these days, and everyone is saying they are involved in one or more of these things. But these things ARE and have been happening here. If you want to believe it or not, that is up to you. We are doing what we feel is best for our children. If you know me well, then you know how much I struggled with Ruth's diagnosis. You know how terrible Ruth's fifth grade year was socially. And you know that I am a Big Mama Bear when it comes to my children.

Yes, Eian still goes to the local public school and will remain there as long as it continues to work for him. He has an excellent teacher this year. Also, Eian is a pretty social kid who likes (and needs) to be around other boys. Also, I know myself pretty well, and I think having Eian home too with all of the one-on-one work that is needed at his age would be waayyy too much for me. And he gets aggravated being home with all of us girls when Jason is at the firehouse! :-) Most of our neighbors have girls too! So he really needs to be throwing around some testosterone with someone.

Well, this ended up being a much wordier post than I had intended! Included some pictures from August for y'all.

Quiet....and misc.

After the rush of getting everybody up and out the door at 8:30 the past two mornings, I have a little bit of quiet time to myself!

Ruth has day camp at Alley Park this week. She is in nature and animal heaven! Yesterday, she got to go canoeing, geocaching, and made a fishing pole. She was stoked and tired! I love camp.

Abbe and Eian are on their second week of their second set of swim lessons this summer. Eian missed half of the first session with swimmers ear and some other sort of illness that is FINALLY gone.

Moxie, my friend Linda's dog, is with us for the whole week! She is so much fun. The puppy enthusiasm is great for a week. Then, we go back to 'old dog' time when she leaves. ;)

I have been making a sincere effort to get some sewing accomplished. Linda has really been pushing me - but that is what I really need. Someone to be accountable to.

Also, I have been trying some new recipes. Tired of buying granola bars and such when I know I can make them for much less and with better ingredients. Have tried 5 minute bread, coconut granola bars and pb/pretzel/choc chip bars. Jason has requested a "regular" granola bar - whatever that means.

Notes from taste testers:
1. Bread: too salty, perfect, not big enough, yummy
2. Coconut bars: AWESOME! Wonder what they would taste like baked? (note: only Eian and I like coconut!)
3. Pb/pretzel/choc chip bars: Mmmmmm, pretty good, can I have "regular ones"?

Sooooo, made a new batch of 5 minute bread with only 1 tbsp of salt, and am going to try to find "regular" granola bar recipe!

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Pictures by RUTH! Taken one beautiful day at Hargus Lake. We took the dogs and found a geocache. Good day.

Easter

The weekend before Easter, our church had their Easter egg hunt at a local plant nursery - Rhoads. This is the first year they had it there and it was a really pretty place to have it.

 I imagine they will be finding eggs all summer! I know I just found one in my flower bed last night.

My little brother was down for the weekend, so he and Dad brought Wesley! My kids were so excited that Wesley was there. Eian is really starting to get into having a little cousin. Finally.

Wesley seemed pretty pleased with his stash  - even though his dad tied the bag closed so he couldn't get to the candy. Bad Daddy!

Abbe and my 'little' brother trying to stomp each others feet.

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At our house, the Easter bunny came to our house on Saturday since Jason had to work on Sunday. The dogs were pretty excited to hunt for eggs too.

 This made for a much more relaxing Easter egg hunt and dinner and playing with the new things and eating too much candy and happier Mom and....

Everyone contributed to part of our Easter dinner. Jason and Abbe smoked ham and a pork roast, and did the vegies. Ruth made rolls with only a little bit of help from me. She did really well; I was impressed. Eian and I made homemade brownies for the first time. We have decided NO MORE BROWNIE MIX! They were awesome!

I am really thinking of asking the Easter bunny to do this every year. It really made getting up for Easter Sunday MUCH MUCH easier. We made it to the 8:15 am service!

Our church does not have child care for that service so everyone had to sit with me. They did pretty good - I only had to threaten to throw away their candy once.

I am sooo glad we went to that service though. We sang all of my favorite Easter hymns. They remind me of my Grandma - which makes me happy. She would play the piano and sing these hymns all the time. I miss her so much.

My friend, Linda, said, "So, you did secular Saturday and sacred Sunday too!" I guess we did!

A Rainy Saturday

Today was a nice rainy Saturday. We really needed this nice steady rain. It will really help Jason's new "square foot garden". It needed a good soaking for all of the vermiculite.

I just really don't like the wet dog smell that comes with the rain!

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(These pictures of the swamp are from last year.)

I am glad we decided not to go to Slate Run's "Secret Swamp" program. We would have been caught in the rain, back over the hill from the path, and a LLLOOONNGG way from the parking lot.

Hopefully, the salamanders will still be mating in April when they have the program again. It is probably the best nature program I have ever been to.

The kids absolutely love this program. You get muddy, dirty, wet, and up close and personal with nature.

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Abbe has been asking to host a 'tea party' for a few days. So, today seemed like a good day.

They are having hot chocolate, graham crackers, salty and sweet soft pretzels, and one corn dog. (Eian is my corn dog eater.) They probably won't be eating very much supper. ;-)

Lots of pretending to be living during the Revolutionary War. Makes for some very interesting conversations.

Nana and Papa found Abbe the tea set, cups and saucers.

Abbe is still looking for "pretty" cups every time we go to a thrift store. It is hard to find stuff not made in China. We found some made in Japan but she wasn't very thrilled with them. I told her to wait until she found some that she REALLY liked.

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Just a little comment/explanation about my absence last month.

I have depression. Depression that gets A LOT worse during the winter months. Thank goodness this winter was not that bad. Yes, I take medication for it. No, I do not go see a counselor. I DO however go see Ruth's counselor about kid issues which usually helps for everything else.

This is an inherited thing that many of my family members have. I just thank God many times a day that we now have medicine that can help, and that I don't have it as bad as some people. People who do not have depression have a hard time understanding those of us who do. It has taken Jason a long time to truly "get" it. But now I think he does, as much as he can, and it helps me to have him be able to give me the boost I sometimes need.

This blog is a lot of work. A lot more than I thought it would be. But when I wasn't doing it, I was constantly thinking "That would make a good blog post" or "I should get a picture of that". This made me realize, I like blogging. I like taking pictures, telling a story, describing our crafts, etc...

This blog also helps me realize how much good I have in my life. My wonderful husband, my goofy darling children, my family in general, and a great group of friends.  God has really blessed my life and this blog helps me realize that more than any other way truly has.

Also, my kids just like saying, "My mama has a website and she puts pictures of me on it!"

So, thank you Robin for your words of encouragement, they really do mean a lot more than you can know!

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Ruth, "Mama did you know that every time you run the dishwasher, you save five gallons of water?"

Me, "No, Ruth, I did not know that. I don't like to wash the dishes anyway and now I have an excellent reason!"

(I really, really HATE to wash the dishes.)

Abbe finally got her snow.

The snow finally came yesterday. The last day of Christmas break.

Abbe was so excited! I wish I could have taken a picture of her face when she saw the snow.

I had to dig their snow pants out so they could make snow angels, have snowball fights, and go sledding.

That is the little hill behind our house. Yes, that is all the snow we have and yet they were trying to sled on it.

Riley LOVES the snow; she is constantly rolling around in it. Smokey, on the other hand, stands at the gate and dances around waiting to go in the house.

Today I went to Meijer and when I came out, it was snowing again. I like snow but this snow came with some serious wind. Look at the flags.

That is not fun. I really DO NOT like the cold, cold weather. The wind felt like it was cutting through me. Ugh.

So, I stopped, and got My Honey and I some of this:

Mmmmm...Caramel Brulee Latte. I love the little caramelly bits on top. They are the only reason I get whipped cream with this latte.

I am going to be sad when it is gone because it is just a Christmas thing. But glad too because then I won't want to stop at every Starbucks I see.

And Jason won't be texting me to see if I am stopping to get coffee - he wants one too, of course.

Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again...

I don't know about you but I am really start to understand that part of the song, "It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas." My kids are starting to get a little stir crazy.

I love my kids very much but the jumping, wrestling, fighting, name calling, just plain 'nonstopness', etc... is really starting to get on my nerves. And I get tired of being 'Mean Momma' all the time, telling them to quit and putting them in timeout.

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My mom gave Eian a science kit for Christmas. So, everyday, about 50 times a day, Eian asks if we can do an experiment. We have made a volcano, color changing liquids, underwater volcano, jiggly crystals, and something else that I can't remember.

Today was the jiggly crystals.

Eian let Abbe help him make these. And then he shared all the crystals with his sisters without me asking! Made me proud.

Abbe asked for makeup for Christmas. But NOT kids makeup.

She made Eian have a black eye, and then they came downstairs with a story about Ruth hitting him in the eye. Eian and Ruth had been having an argument before Eian went upstairs with Abbe, so it was a pretty reasonable story.

She didn't just use black; she used purple too. Looks pretty realistic, huh? Abbe also gave Eian some "tattoos." A spider, crossed swords, and heart with a sword through it. They were pretty cool.

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Here is our 'wild African dog'! Doesn't she look thrilled to be on safari?