It’s like a barnyard around here.

There’s still a rooster roaming the yard. How he’s lived this long, I’m not sure. Why I continue to allow him to live, I’m even more unsure. He crows at all hours of the day and night, but lately, he’s pushing me to my limits.

He’s taken to thinking the front porch is for his residing pleasures. The concrete patio has become his playground.

My children’s shoes keep tracking in the signs of the suicidal animal.

If he’s hanging out on the porch and patio… and leaving the remnants of his time spent there for everyone to know where he’s been… he must be suicidal.

Between “Some Other Guy’s Rooster” as Charlotte has affectionately named the stray, and two of these furry gray balls of infuriating named Fred and Angus (both girls, ironically enough):

who like newspapers, which is fine with me, but also like the inside of my home, which is NOT fine with me, I’m just going to go crazy. Between the rooster making a mess of our play spaces, and the cat climbing the screen and running inside every time the door opens, it’s like a three ring circus around here. It’s driving me crazy.

Looking at the bright side, it’ll be the animals that send me over the edge. The kids’ consciences can be relieved. They didn’t do it.

TOS Review: Barbour Publishing

This year, Barbour Publishing, Inc. has published Diary of a Real Payne Book 1: True Story by Annie Tipton and asked the Old Schoolhouse Magazine’s Review Crew to review the book and let you all – and them – what we think of it. Based on the life and diary of main character Emma Jean – EJ – Payne, a 10 year old girl with tragic hair and growing up in the boring, boring town in Wisconsin. She can’t wait to grow up and get out of there. While her actions are almost always good, she doesn’t always land on her feet.

This paperback had me nervous at first, fearful I was going to encounter attitude problems and challenging authority figures from the characters of a book. From personal experience, this is not something I want my children reading about. It doesn’t end up in any good thing.

Eden (8) read the book first. She was pretty thrilled to get a book in the mail that was ”for her” to read. I heard about it. And heard about it. And heard about it. “It’s funny. The main character’s dad is a pastor. It’s so funny. They talk about God a lot. It’s so funny.” Yeah. My own dear daughter, well-meaning but oh, my goodness, the things she comes up with sometimes… Eden related to this book on a very personal level. She loved it.

Liberty (10) read it too, and while she wasn’t quite so ecstatic about the book as Eden was, she still talked about it often and happily read it. As a pickier reader, I was happy to have her find a book she enjoyed and read without dragging her feet about it. She’s really starting to understand jokes and have her own sense of humor, so this was pretty fun for her. EJ is 10 in the book, but very much not like Liberty with her serious, quiet manner, but Liberty still appreciated having a fun book to read.

I was pretty happy with the book. It’s great to find materials for my kids to read that I agree with, and this one fit the bill. The characters, while certainly portrayed as sinful people, they learn from mistakes and find a lesson worth learning in the end. I’d rather read about sinful characters that find grace and mercy in Christ than when books build characters that can’t possibly be real. EJ had a lot of lessons to learn (and it sounds like more are coming!). She isn’t perfect, but she seems like she understands that too.

Much of the book is entries from EJ’s diary – the diary her mother gave her because she believed it would be a “good outlet” for EJ. The very first page has some pretty funny stuff, and even Sterling (6) started reading it. He hasn’t gotten very far, but he keeps picking it up. I love how even he “gets” the jokes. If funny is what it takes to make my kids want to pick up books, then so be it. Throw in a Christian theme and a lesson that my kids can draw from too, and it sounds something we’ll look for more of! Book 2 is coming, and I already have requests from my kids to get our hands on a copy ASAP.

Diary of a Real Payne Book 1: True Story has 192 pages and is published by Barbour Publishing. It retails for $5.99 and is available here.

To read the rest of the Crew’s opinions on Diary of a Real Payne Book 1: True Story by Annie Tipton, head over to the review crew blog.

Facts of Life (by Alexandra)

  

Gus helped his dad ride through the weaned calves checking for sick ones yesterday. The boys have a pretty impressive understanding of how life goes. They have watched calves being born when it is calving season. All mother’s make milk for their babies, but during the weaning process they know that the calves no longer get milk from their mom and sometimes they get sick without the good stuff in her milk. Sometimes they get so sick that they die.

One of my chickens sat on eggs and even managed to hatch one of them. They chick made it 2 days before one of the cats ate it.

Tough stuff for little boys to understand, but they do amazingly well with it. It’s hard to shield them from much when our life is so surrounded by animals and the life and death of them. I've come to conclude that, while it's sad, it's good for them to experience. The knowledge that life leads to death, that people die too, that Jesus died so that their death isn't permanent... it all becomes an integral part of who they are and learning what we believe. Hard lessons, but important ones too.

A friend gave us another kitten. He got named Spike the 2nd. (If you remember back, the owl got Spike #1) Gus was outside building him a house on Saturday when he came running into the house crying. Almost to the point of hysteria, I finally was able to decipher what he was saying enough to figure out that it was something about my dog eating Spike that had him upset. I look out onto the porch to see Spike calmly sunbathing on the pillow he had been instructed to stay on.

“Pretty sure the dog ain’t eating your cat, honey.”

“Well she is eating something! It was all wet and gross!”

“Hmmm, lets go see…  Do you think that it could be?…”




Mystery solved. The kids watched for a few minutes and then went back to their cat house building.  There was a comment made at dinner to the effect of her “milk” being a lot bigger but that was about the extent of it. “When can we PLAY with them? They just sleep all the time right now!”

Around and around we go. It's a pretty incredible life in which to raise these sons of mine. They get to experience so much, to learn from real life, and to see so much firsthand. What a joy life is!!

TOS Review: God’s World News–Early Edition

 

As part of the Old Schoolhouse Review Crew, I’ve been reviewing God’s World News, receiving their magazine for grades 1-2, Early Edition, and full access to the grade level I received at their website www.gwnews.com, and new websites www.kids.wng.org, and (should I have received a magazine on the teen level) www.teen.wng.org.

 

I requested Sterling’s age level, Early Edition. He’s six, in first grade, and reading very well. He’s devoured his magazines that he’s received so far, and told me over and over of the stories he’s read. The first morning after the mail came with his first issue was awesome. “Mom, did you know?” “I found ___ on the map.” “Mom, where’s ___ on the map? I can’t find it.” His first issue (September’s) came with a map to use with each issue, and oh, my word, has Sterling had fun with that. He’s studied it at length, finding all the states we’ve lived in, been to, countries he’s heard of, places he’s read about in his magazines. I have a feeling that thing isn’t going to make the year. We talked of hanging it on the wall, but he informed me he would not be able to look at it as well that way. Well then.

The magazines each contain 24 pages. They are colorful and printed on thick newsprint from what I’ve gathered. Amazingly, they haven’t ripped or fallen apart. I’m impressed, after what they’ve been through.

The website access is amazing. I’ve spent several hours on there and barely scratched the surface. Back issues of all God’s World Magazines (including World, one I’ve read some online and always in the eye doctor’s office, and have been thoroughly impressed with their views and vantage points. Plus… we have a writer from World in our own congregation. It’s a fabulous magazine. Unfortunately, our entertainment budget remains at $0 so we’ve never subscribed. For now though, I get to read it online. I was thrilled when I learned this – and further thrilled when I could “add” family members and added Blaine, so that he may read with his own username and password. Ah, it’s the little things.

The answer keys to quizzes in the magazine (during the school year – no quizzes in the summer) are online, as are extended news lessons, biographies in PDF form (I found one to use this week, was all excited about it, then my computer shut itself down and lost it. And just like that, what was it about?! Live and learn. Bookmark. Download. Now I’ll have to find another one to use. There’s 120+ to choose from – it shouldn’t be hard!) Weekly email newsletter Teaching God’s World News is available to subscribers, and is the easiest way to access all that I’ve mentioned.

Chalk it all up to say, we’ve thoroughly enjoyed Early Edition and all the online content that goes with it. Sterling is thrilled to get a magazine in the mail just for him, I’ve really appreciated all the articles inside, and I’m so excited to be able to read many of the other offerings online. The news chosen for Sterling’s magazine has been in good taste – I assumed it would be, knowing what I know of the adult magazine, but it did not disappoint. Sterling is getting a taste of the world and what goes on around him in a format I really appreciate, from a Christian worldview I also appreciate. Awesome.

Early Edition retails for $32 for ten monthly issues, but God’s World News has it available here for $28 a year for a single subscription. A school-year subscription, with issues September through April, retails for $25 but is available from God’s World News here for $21. Further discounts are offered for multiple magazines to the same address.

To read more reviews on Early Edition and God’s World News’ other magazines available for the young reader to young adult, check out the Review Crew Blog.

Sterling.

Sterling lost his first tooth last night. He’d mentioned earlier in the day that he had bumps on the inside of his gums that hurt. I told him he must have scratched them up on toast or some such thing. He complained again later, so I looked to see what was going on. His adult tooth was coming in, behind his baby tooth that has been loose for months but he’s babied enough that it never got looser.

I did what any parent would do. I bribed him. “You get it out before tomorrow morning, and I’ll give you a dollar. You still have that baby tooth in your mouth in the morning, and I pull it and you don’t get to complain.”

Compassionate? Of course.

Thing is, money speaks to Sterling like nothing else. He hoards it. So when he got the chance to add to his stash, he was all over it.

“How am I supposed to wiggle my tooth during supper?!” he asked.

I told him he could take a break and eat.

“But then I won’t get it out tonight!”

Pretty soon, he was asking for help. Sounding somewhat like a woman in labor, he moaned and huffed and puffed and I got it looser. He took to eating an apple in hopes that it would help. It didn’t.

I told him I’d get it out. He indulged me and stood there willingly. Thirty seconds later, he was spitting a tooth across the kitchen floor with a look of terror on his face.

Just like that, my baby grew up just a little. And he got his dollar.

Grace.

My children have an imperfect mother.

I know. Shocker.

I show my children depravity at it’s finest.

But where there is sin, there is grace. Forgiveness. Another day.

I distinctly remember the first time I ever apologized to one of my children. It was the hardest moment I could recall. So humbling. Since then, it’s become far easier. I have had lots of practice.

It’s a balance, this motherhood thing. We make mistakes, we learn from then, we move on, striving to do better. And then we make more mistakes. Scripture talks of the faith of a little child. The forgiveness of a little child is also a remarkable thing. Whereas I want to stay offended, and struggle to forgive and move on, a child forgives and immediately acts as if they really aren’t offended. As if I didn’t really just mess up once again, use a harsh tone, hurry them along when they were already doing their best, or interrupt their story to remind them of chores. They just forgive, move on, and love me still.

It’s incredible.

Today, I’m thankful for grace. God’s grace, grace from my husband, grace from my children, grace from my friends. Lately, I feel more in need of it than ever. I struggle, I sin, I fall flat on my face, and yet, God has offered me free grace. Over and over again, I’m in need of it.
I was called “super mom” again the other day. All I could think is, “Wow, have they got the wrong lady.” I try, I fail, I try again, and fail again. Motherhood is the most humbling experience of my life. My frailty is fully displayed to these six little people – and when I think I might be conquering just one small portion in life, one of my children says or does something that I taught them that reminds me, once again, that it’s so much worse than I ever thought.

Grace. Forgiveness. Thankful.

Pierce: self entertainment.

Pierce dumped out his shoes this morning, then started cleaning them up.

Then he realized I was laughing and taking photos, so he dumped them all out so he could start again.

Cheap entertainment. Unfortunately, as soon as I put the camera away, he gave up, walked away, and left the shoes everywhere. We’ll get there… one day at a time. In the meantime, I’ll marvel that he can actually use a broom and dust pan rather effectively.

TOS Review: Chess House

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine was asked to review the Starter Chess Learning Kit from CHESSHOUSE.COM. It includes a soft-sided bag (given the choice of color, I chose black) and vinyl-front fabric-back chess board that rolls up and is contained in the bag, along with all the pieces required for set up (plus a few extra queens). It also includes DVD Elliot’s Chess School Pawn Level: Level 1 that teaches the very beginning basics of the game of Chess.

Liberty (10) and Eden (8) played and learned with me. While the ages for play are listed as 4 and up, Ruby (5) and Sterling (6) quickly bored with my lack of knowledge and constant referral the the video and they wandered off and lost interest. Eden and Liberty, though, thoroughly enjoyed themselves and picked up the basics quickly. Pierce (2) made the game a little more interesting, moving pieces at will. We quickly learned to play while he was napping.

First, let’s be clear: I’ve never played Chess in my life. I’ve never seen Chess played. Ever. And when I watched the DVD through the first time (we’re going to be wearing it out, to be sure) I got more and more lost. It took jumping in… and referring back to the DVD often, to start to get an idea of what needed to happen. It’s not the simplest game ever. Winning isn’t just a cut and dried thing. There are so many variations of how the game can go it’ll make your head spin. But, we jumped in, played our first game, and guess what? I won. Yes, folks, I beat an 8 and 10 year old team. Such victory.

Since that amazing victory, the game comes out often. We tried playing it outside, but it turns out, we still need the DVD often. My only recommendation for Chess House would be a diagram on the Chess board of how set up should be, and perhaps a quick printout of how each piece move. I was ready to take notes, so frustrated with my ability to remember how the game goes, but Eden always remembered and knew so I trusted her memory (it’s usually ridiculously reliable) and went with it.

The DVD is organized really, really well. With setup, overview, and how each piece can move in individual segments, it made it easy to find the right section to tell me what I’d already forgotten. Explained and demonstrated by National Master Elliott Neff, the DVD made figuring out what we were doing far, far easier than reading it on paper. I’m quite certain I’d have given up if I’d have had to read the rules. If we ever figure this out (or the girls leave me in their dust, given their pursuit of the game is far more enthusiastic than my brain wants to be!) there are many more levels offered on DVD to continue learning the game in greater understanding.

Blaine called one afternoon from work as the girls and I were playing. When I told him what I was doing, he replied, “I didn’t know you knew how to play Chess!” Um, yeah, I don’t very well. But I’m learning. It’s been a fun experience – and a great one to have with my girls. And, as long as I insist we play on the floor in front of the TV so we can continue to double check that we’re playing correctly, it’s pretty fun too.  One of these days, I might just challenge my husband to a game. But, knowing his intellect… I’m going to practice for a while longer first.

This beginner kit from Chess House retails for $49.95 but is currently listed here for a sale price $39.95.

To read more reviews on the Starter Chess Learning Kit from other members of the Old Schoolhouse Magazine’s Review Crew, check out the Review Crew Blog.

Liberty's making pancakes - from a mix. She's over an hour in and I just heard the first oil spray hit the pan. I can teach them how to cook… but how on earth do you teach them speed?!

Sterling asked me how big a yard was. My reply was, “3 feet. 36 inches. A yard stick. You know, that’s why we call it a YARD stick.”

My son just snorted at me. In that brief second, he realized he’d asked a very stupid question. I love it. (If you saw how they play with yard sticks around here, you’d understand better. We have about 10 of them, from the farm show and from Blaine’s parents’ hardware store. They frequently become swords, roads, and, with the help of bread twist ties, bridges. Yard sticks are something he knows VERY well.)

Yesterday Sterling learned about nickels. We sorted out 2 quarters, 10 nickels, 5 dimes, and 50 pennies into four piles to make a point on the value of each coin. What Sterling got out of our piles? “We have $2 here!” I’m not the least bit math minded. My son is scaring me.

Pierce is back to his normal self. Temper tantrums, requiring lots of correction, and eating everything in sight normal Pierce. Thankful. Even for the exhausting job of the constant need to correct him. Funny: I dropped a butter knife onto the tile floor with a crash that sounded worse that it really was. Pierce took the opportunity to correct me back. “Momma! No no!”

Ruby was told that today at co-op she has PE and needs to wear jeans. She came back with five jean skirts for me to choose from, insisting that a jean skirt with leggings is really easy to run in. She just can’t stand it.

Eden is the first child I’ve ever had to tell to write out her math answers using numbers, not words. She had an entire lesson that she wrote answers like “five hundred twenty six thousand nine hundred fifty two” – in cursive. I’m sorry. I’m glad you know place value and how a number reads in words. But my brain does not want to convert that to numbers, so you’ll have to indulge me and use numbers next time.

Charlotte insists she’s three now, so she’s big. Until last night. When asked why she wasn’t helping to clean up supper, she informed me she’s not that big. It went into a several-minute dissertation on why three years old is pretty big, but she’s not quite big enough to do work, because she’s still pretty short. With the ability to have a discussion like that, she’s being recruited into service. She’s a fabulous “Crawl under the table for any runaway cups, silverware, napkins, or large pieces of food picker-upper”.

The pancakes were worth the wait. If you have the chance, the pecan-glazed mix from Aldi is pretty darn fabulous. And a ten year old can make them. If they have an hour and a half.

Garden Supper

Supper the other night was veggie pizza. I wanted to try to make Papa Murphy’s white sauce. Every place I found that discussed it said it was simply ranch dressing with extra garlic cloves in it. I made ranch dressing and added 4 cloves of garlic (to 2 cups of sauce). While it was quite good, I’m not certain it was the same. At any rate, until I think of a better idea, I’ll do that again.

The veggies for our pizza all came out of the garden, except for the mushrooms. Tomatoes, peppers, squash, chives, and basil all came fresh from the outdoors. While I didn’t take a photo of the finished pizza – because, while the crusts I make taste good, they are lumpy and bumpy and full of “warts”. So, you get the cutting board. It’s prettier.

Colorful. Fun. I love it when our food looks pretty.

One little project deserved a bigger one…

My little two-hour sewing project and little purse made yesterday afternoon, proved I can’t leave well enough alone.

I made myself a diaper bag last night. Because I can’t just sew something small and quit while my back is still fully functioning. No, I must find something else to make, dig through scraps until I find enough fabric, and sew until I can’t sit up straight or move without pain. I’ve always wished for a sewing room. Turns out, that might be a bad idea. I’d be forever sewing instead of leaving the machine tucked away because it’s too much work to haul everything down the stairs to a big enough work space.

But, on the bright side, I now have an extra-large ultra-colorful diaper bag with lots of pockets for when baby’s born! Since I have all the baby clothes, bed, blankets, diapers, and everything else I need for a newborn kept from the others, it was kind of fun to do something new for the new baby – you know, the one that won’t be born, Lord willing, for another five months. I might have to find an excuse to use it before then.

Oh, Ruby.

Ruby fills out a “meeting strip” every day during math. With the day’s date, a pattern to finish, and a coin cup box for the coins I’ve handed her to be counted and recorded, she apparently was getting bored with the routine. This is the one she handed me last week:

I was told to finish the letters to make the date. Each of the letters for October are half there (except the c, since she couldn’t draw only half). Impressive shorthand, dear Ruby. Not quite what I was after, but impressive nonetheless.

Projects while the sickie sleeps.

Pierce has been sick this weekend. It started Friday night. About the time he was sent to bed, he started crying. And crying. And 16 hours later, he finally quit crying and fell into an exhausted sleep. Ibuprofen didn’t even slow him down. Teething tablets did nothing. Discussions were made as to whether to take him to the doctor, not having a clue why he was crying and he refused to talk or point what hurt or anything to indicate what the problem was, but in the end, we stayed home. Hard decisions. He’s recovering, sleeping a ton, mostly on me, and now says his teeth hurt. Hello, am I glad I didn’t take him to Urgent Care over teething. “Yeah, we have a mom of six here who can’t figure out her son is getting a new tooth. You’d think she’d have figured this one out by now.” Nope. Not a clue.

But, on that note, I stayed home from church today. Blaine teaches Sunday school, so there’s not much choice. I’m the dispensable one. So, while Pierce slept, I sewed. Rough morning, to be sure. I made this:

While I had visions of it being, oh, about twice as big, (It’s 8”x10” finished.) I made one true to pattern and now, I’ll attempt to double it, I think. I used fabric leftover from other projects (a few slings contain these fabrics) so it cost me nothing. Kinda fun. I went to a popular bag company party a few weeks ago and found myself looking at the catalog thinking, “I could so make that – and it wouldn’t cost me $65.” I walked away feeling horrible for buying nothing, but inspired to get out my sewing machine. Fun.

Soup Recipe: Zuppa Toscana

This recipe is one of our favorites. We grew kale in the garden this year, just because we liked it so much. Blaine even suggested canning it pre-kale in mass quantity. That has yet to happen… we eat it as fast as I make it. Leftovers are highly sought after – it reheats very well.

Be careful when stowing leftovers. Spilled soup makes you want to cry twice. At the loss, and at the greasy mess left in it’s aftermath. Not that I would know this firsthand or anything.

2 lbs. ground sausage

2 onions, diced

8-10 cloves garlic, minced

12 cups chicken stock

8-9 cups russet potatoes, cubed

2 tsps. salt (to taste)

1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper (to taste)

4-6 cups kale, washed, cut leaves off stems, discard stems and cut leaves into bite size pieces

3 cups heavy whipping cream

Garnish: Parmesan cheese, grated, to taste

Directions:

In stock pot, brown and crumble sausage and onions. During the last couple minutes of cooking, add minced garlic. Once cooked, drain grease.

Pour in chicken stock and add potatoes. Cover and allow potatoes to simmer for about 15-30 minutes, until tender. Once potatoes are tender, pour in heavy cream, season with salt and pepper. Then add kale.

Stir. Bring mixture back up to a simmer and allow the kale to soften and wilt. Serve.

Underthings proclamation and other short stories.

I was in a dressing room, trying on a purple maternity dress. Charlotte tagged along.

“Mom! That dress matches your glasses!”

Yes. Yes it does.

“It matches your…” she searched for the next purple item she could name. “PANTIES, TOO!”

Could you say that a little louder, dear? I’m not quite sure the cashier at the front of the store heard you. From the chuckles outside the dressing room, the other ladies shopping nearby certainly did.

One dear boy helped his big sister lick out her birthday cake batter bowl. I’m pretty sure he got some in his mouth. Wouldn’t know it by looking at him though. I’m going to take heart between the two faces, and remind myself at the difference a year makes.

Today: Three grocery stores, six children and I, 1.5 hours, a week and a half worth of groceries, tp, and cat food, $200. That might be a new record for time. Between that, and Pierce actually holding onto the cart the entire time he was instructed without failing to obey (down to almost walking away to get in the van and remembering, saying “Oops!” and heading back to his post) it was a day for record-breaking. Maybe that’s why we got done so quickly, come to think of it!

One of my dear children, to remain nameless, was questioned this morning regarding MIA daily 100-problem math timed tests that had been assigned. Turns out, this dear child opted not to do them, pulling the perfectionist card out of the repertoire of bad excuses. “I can get a good score, so I didn’t want to do them. So I didn’t.” How didn’t? 14 lessons didn’t. Between those, the extra lesson that had been assigned but not completed, and the four chapter tests also mysteriously opted out of, one dear child has roughly 1,400 math problems to make up. It makes my head hurt just thinking about it. Today: half done. I’m scared to correct them, for fear said child’s brain opted out of complete operation after all that. Sometimes being the parent and the teacher just stinks. It’s stinking hard to leave the frustrations of our school day during school hours and move on in the evening.

Liberty was conjugating verbs. “Have boughtended?” The sad part was, she looked at me, waiting for my nod of approval instead of realizing her error. She realized it shortly after, however - when I snorted.

I told Sterling to grab his math book today. “Why?” he questioned.

“To do your lesson,” I replied.

“I already did it,” I was told.

“Yeah, fine, but we need to do your lesson. You’re learning about measuring today.”

“That math book is weird, Mom. I already know how to measure. They want to teach me things I already know. I did that page too. Why are the people that wrote that book so weird? That stuff is so easy.” And he had done it. All of it. To perfection.

Tomorrow, we work on humility.

TOS Review: Fundanoodle

As we wrap up the Old Schoolhouse Magazine’s Review Crew year, I’ve received some pretty fun stuff to review with Charlotte from Fundanoodle. I received I Can Cut, I Can Do Math Level 1, and Max and Alphie’s Adventure Level 1, all part of the “Orange” level for 3 year olds, or preschool level.

Charlotte turned three last week – partway through the review. While it was obvious she was a beginner learning these skills (and her I Can Cut! Activity Book looks like a slight massacre has maimed it for life) she had a BLAST doing these books. Thrilled with the concept of “doing school” alongside her older siblings, she took her work with an incredibly serious attitude and worked her little heart out on these. She did 1-3 pages per school day in each book, and they took her usually 5-10 minutes per book, depending on how meticulous she decided to be.

The I Can Cut! Activity Book was by far her favorite, complete with the pair of safety all-plastic scissors that came with the book. While I didn’t check to see if they cut hair, I don’t think they will. They’re pretty perfect for a first pair of scissors. She cut up those pages to pieces, sometimes more accurately than others, but her ability to hold and control scissors greatly improved as she went. The other two books I received cover counting, patterns, and looking at pictures to find missing objects. She didn’t get the concept at the beginning. (When told to circle all the houses, she circled ALL of the houses. And everything else on the page – with one GIANT circle. Talk about the letter of the law more than the spirit of it!) Now, several weeks later, she takes to the directions like a pro – and I learned to demonstrate my desires just a little bit more clearly!


The I Can Do Math! Activity Book was a little bit above Charlie’s head. Attributing a number to a single object is something she’s still learning, and despite trying to get her to count objects and give each a number, to find which square had more, etc., she really didn’t get this. She, however, did not realize she wasn’t getting it and had a fabulous time in the meantime. I learned to let it go, give her the instructions, and let her do it wrong. It’ll be okay.

The stickers… oh, the stickers. Charlotte loved finding the “right” sticker for the page and placing it, ever so carefully, exactly in the right spot. There’s nothing wrong with her hand-eye coordination, for certain. Her sticker placement was exact and perfect. She never, ever forgot to grab her sticker to mark the page completed. These were quite possibly her favorite part of the two books (I Can Do Math! and Max and Alphie’s Adventures!) that contained them. Such fun.

When Charlotte saw me working on this review, and saw photos of “her school”, she was concerned she wouldn’t get to keep it. Suffice it to say, she really, really has enjoyed these books and will continue to do them each day.


All three of the books I received are 9” x 12”. I Can Cut! Cutting Activity Book contains 40 worksheets and is $7.99, I Can Do Math! Level 1 contains 40 pages plus sticker sheets containing a sticker reward for each page and is $5.99, and Max and Alphie’s Adventures! Activity book contains 40 pages plus stickers for $5.99.



 To read more reviews of these books, more Orange level books and other levels and books offered by Fundanoodle, visit the Review Crew Blog.

A sight.

There’s a sight I never did want to see.

Ruby’s math papers, tea-drenched. She’s heartbroken to have to wait to finish her math until the papers dry, to be sure.

Happy Friday. I hope yours is going better than mine!

Charlotte Serenity

Charlotte Serenity turned three years old today. A new pair of slipper boots from Grandpa and Grandma (because soft fuzzy things are her favorite – proven when she wore them to bed tonight) and a new dress because Momma can’t seem to let a girl birthday go by without a sewing project were a few of her favorite things.

A new doll that looks remarkably like Charlie herself – who also got a new dress to mark the occasion,

and three candles in a German Chocolate cupcake marked the grander celebrations of the day. She had a fabulous day, and was more excited about the fact that she was three than the cupcakes or the gifts. Being three, she tells me, is a really big deal. She wanted to know if she’d still spill and need a bib when she’s three. With her… the answer is yes. Spills are still gonna happen. Sorry.

Happy birthday, Baby Big Girl.

Flexible? Or crazy?

I read recently that that which is not flexible can become brittle, and that which is brittle often breaks.

That statement has me thinking this non-scheduled drop-everything-and-go life I lead with these six little people has been on purpose. Sure, I did this on purpose. I’m busy raising flexible children with this well-refined technique.

In all seriousness, it has worked for us. On Sundays, when church doesn’t get out until 2pm and we don’t usually eat lunch until 3:30pm, all six of my children just go with it. No one even complains. I carry pretzels in the van and often have takers when we’re on our way home, but no one says a word. Skipping naps is no big deal, five stores in one afternoon is common and accepted, and bedtime is 8pm. Usually. Sometimes it’s 9:30, especially in the summertime. They rarely melt, they don’t fuss, they just know that this is life and roll with it.

When we took our last trip with our minivan, there were seven of us in a seven passenger vehicle. Plus luggage for seven. Plus a small dog. On the way home, we were packed to the gills. No one could get out without climbing over seats and preferably out the front doors. On the way home, we got a flat tire. We had to unload the back of the van to get to the spare. The spare that was rusted on tight. The spare that wasn’t sufficient to drive the four hours home. Four hours later, we were headed out again, four hours from home. No. One. Complained.

That was the moment when I wondered if I’d ruined them with all the flexibility required to maintain sanity around here. That moment when I was exhausted, wanted to cry, and my kids saw the two hours of wandering Walmart while they put a new tire on my van as an adventure. We’ve never before spent half an hour smelling every candle in the aisle, after all. We’d never walked the toy section talking about what looked fun, what looked crazy, and what we would choose if we had the funds and space to each pick something fun. We rarely get the chance to sit in a restaurant and eat, and leave our supper mess in some other space.

That fact was commented upon by both of my older daughters. Being able to walk away from the dirty table was the highlight of the night by my dear kitchen helpers. Not long after that trip, we were given our 12 passenger van. Space was amazing, as is the ability to pack in places other than the foot space of my children.

But still. I’m still unsure about the flexibility that happens around here. It’s so completely different than the way I grew up. Is this a necessity of a larger family? Is it merely a byproduct of my personality? Do share, what works for you?

Our week in review.

The rooster lives. He’s moved to our pasture next to our house, but regularly takes to the front yard. He’s joined the group of six children, one dog, and two kittens that runs for Blaine’s van when he gets home from work. It’s comical.

In a discussion of naming the rooster, Charlotte announced, “We should name him “Some other guy’s rooster”. I made that name up.” We’re still laughing.

Blaine and I celebrated our 11th anniversary on Saturday. What was planned to be a relaxing day was changed with a phone call at 9am. Blaine headed out to cut up a tree that landed across a driveway and I made a birthday dress for Charlotte. I’m attempting to scale down the dress to fit an 8 inch doll so she and the doll can match. So far, I’m on try #2 and it’s a tad ugly. Fun times.

Pierce came into our bedroom in the night on Friday night and Blaine told him to come to that side of the bed. Pierce cried for Momma and Blaine told him to leave Momma alone and come to Daddy instead. Pierce turned tail and marched back to his bed, screaming all the while. Hello, stubborn child.

We went to friends’ from church last night for supper. They don’t have children. They were nothing but gracious, but there’s nothing like the glaring realization of exactly how crazy your life is as seeing it through someone else’s eyes. I believe there were three glasses of water spilled, one dear child wanted seconds on dessert, and all the kids were dancing in their larger-than-ours living room like there was no tomorrow. Sterling commented on their TV screen saver, saying “All they’ve taught us about are leaves and sticks” and I corrected one child or another every 35 seconds for the duration of the night. Oh my.

The kids cleaned their room to perfection Saturday morning. By Sunday night, you couldn’t see the floor anymore. When you multiply belongings times six, it doesn’t take more than a few items per kid to make a room look like a tornado hit it. Frustrating.

I’m 15.5 weeks along now. I quit getting sick at 13.5 weeks. So thankful.

On with the day. School, co-op homework, house clean up, laundry, mowing the lawn, and finishing a sewing project await me. I’m exhausted already!