Even our neighbor Jack has joined in the fun a few times!
And I'm loving it!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
It's Been a Little Quiet Around Here . . .
Even our neighbor Jack has joined in the fun a few times!
And I'm loving it!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Stop That Bus!!
I'm having a "Wait! Stop that yellow bus, and take my kids!" kind of homeschooling day . . .
I'm not feeling well from some sort of respiratory bug that I've had for a few days now. Isaac and Aaron have been arguing and fighting this morning, mixed in with Aaron screaming because he doesn't know what else to do when his older brother won't do what he wants!
After giving myself a time-out in my room (with a locked door!) for several minutes while feeling sorry for myself that I have to deal with 3 children while sick, I finally came back out, got everybody separated, and somehow calmed down.
Next, I spent a half hour trying to help Noah with Algebra problems that he got wrong from last week, resulting in both of us getting frustrated because we couldn't figure some things out. I declared math over for the day, and then watched a 30 minute history video with the older two boys while letting the Aaron play a computer game.
Now I'm worn out and need a nap; so I decided that after lunch, the boys will have a puzzle/game day for the rest of the day. We do that from time to time, about once a month, for a change of pace, or if Mom really needs it!
And then, praise the Lord, I remembered a Leapster electronic toy that a friend had given us about 2 years ago that was too complicated for Aaron at the time. I dug it out, Noah and Isaac searched around for batteries, and amazingly, Aaron is completely engrossed in it and will hopefully stay occupied with it for quite a while so he doesn't bother his big brothers while I take a nap. After I figure out what we're having for lunch . . .
Homeschooling can be great; but some days, I really do wonder why God thinks that I can do it!
(edited to add): After being sent to his room for a time-out twice for being mean toward Isaac, and then having a toy taken away for the day because he kept grabbing it from Isaac and Isaac yelled at him (all within about a half hour), Aaron started crying and said "this is the saddest day of my whole life!" He's not dramatic at all.
I'm not feeling well from some sort of respiratory bug that I've had for a few days now. Isaac and Aaron have been arguing and fighting this morning, mixed in with Aaron screaming because he doesn't know what else to do when his older brother won't do what he wants!
After giving myself a time-out in my room (with a locked door!) for several minutes while feeling sorry for myself that I have to deal with 3 children while sick, I finally came back out, got everybody separated, and somehow calmed down.
Next, I spent a half hour trying to help Noah with Algebra problems that he got wrong from last week, resulting in both of us getting frustrated because we couldn't figure some things out. I declared math over for the day, and then watched a 30 minute history video with the older two boys while letting the Aaron play a computer game.
Now I'm worn out and need a nap; so I decided that after lunch, the boys will have a puzzle/game day for the rest of the day. We do that from time to time, about once a month, for a change of pace, or if Mom really needs it!
And then, praise the Lord, I remembered a Leapster electronic toy that a friend had given us about 2 years ago that was too complicated for Aaron at the time. I dug it out, Noah and Isaac searched around for batteries, and amazingly, Aaron is completely engrossed in it and will hopefully stay occupied with it for quite a while so he doesn't bother his big brothers while I take a nap. After I figure out what we're having for lunch . . .
Homeschooling can be great; but some days, I really do wonder why God thinks that I can do it!
(edited to add): After being sent to his room for a time-out twice for being mean toward Isaac, and then having a toy taken away for the day because he kept grabbing it from Isaac and Isaac yelled at him (all within about a half hour), Aaron started crying and said "this is the saddest day of my whole life!" He's not dramatic at all.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Big Mr. Kindergartener
I was going to title this "Little Mr. Kindergartener", but we've been telling Aaron that he's a big boy now and has to "do school" like Noah and Isaac.
So far, he's learning letter sounds, what each letter looks like, tracing, matching, coloring, cutting & pasting, and - he loves Math! Isaac randomly started teaching him things like "2 + 2 = 4" last year. Now Aaron can add almost any number up through 10, without me even "teaching" it. Easy for me! I've also been reading lots of books to him. Next, we'll start with learning to write his name and letters and numbers. He really resisted that last year, so hopefully he'll be ready for that soon.
Another favorite activity since preschool days - playing with dry beans. Counting, sorting, measuring, pouring, and making a mess.
He's also proudly able to design very interesting Lego creations all on his own, and assemble new Lego sets with minimal help. That's not typical Kindergarten curriculum; but we call it Pre-Engineering.
And that, folks, is what Kindergarten looks like for Aaron so far. Tough stuff! Don't you sometimes wish you were back in kindergarten?!
Friday, September 25, 2009
Play With Your Food
This is what you can do with odd-shaped produce from your garden:
This little guy was supposed to be a cucumber, but he turned out looking sort of gourd-like with a narrow nose! The eyes are black-eyed peas.
We found the book "Play With Your Food" by Joost Elffers several years ago. There are other books by the same author like "How Are You Peeling?" with all types of produce showing all sorts of emotions. "Food for Thought" is another favorite, which teaches shapes, colors, numbers, letters, and opposites. Some of the animals, faces, and characters they come up with are amazing!
Here's another one we did a while ago:
nice hair!
Sorry, Mom & Dad - I DO let my kids play with their food! (sometimes)
This little guy was supposed to be a cucumber, but he turned out looking sort of gourd-like with a narrow nose! The eyes are black-eyed peas.
We found the book "Play With Your Food" by Joost Elffers several years ago. There are other books by the same author like "How Are You Peeling?" with all types of produce showing all sorts of emotions. "Food for Thought" is another favorite, which teaches shapes, colors, numbers, letters, and opposites. Some of the animals, faces, and characters they come up with are amazing!
Here's another one we did a while ago:
nice hair!
Sorry, Mom & Dad - I DO let my kids play with their food! (sometimes)
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Weird Fruit and other Weird Sightings
Do you ever notice some of the strange and/or interesting types of fruit that show up in the produce department at your grocery store? My husband and boys are always very intrigued and feel compelled to buy it, bring it home, and check it out.
Last week, Isaac noticed something new. It's called Dragon Fruit. Also known as Pitahaya or Pitaya Fruit, it's common in Southeast Asia, Mexico, Central and South America, and Israel we discovered after looking it up on the internet. They come in a few different types, the kind we bought was the white variety:
This is what the inside looks like:
It looks almost kiwi-like with the little seeds, and you can scoop out the white fruit with a spoon, kind of like melon. But we found it to be fairly flavorless; not too interesting. To this family of fruit connoisseurs, we don't think it was worth the outrageous price of $3.49. It sure is pretty though!
Another weird sighting around our house (which happens often with 3 boys) . . . Yesterday I found Isaac and Aaron standing by the slide of our swing set, intently watching something and yelling "go! go!" like there was some kind of race. I went out to find that Isaac had spit on the slide, and they were waiting to see how long it took for the spit to reach the bottom of the slide! gross. (but of course, I still had to run inside and grab my camera!)
Last week, Isaac noticed something new. It's called Dragon Fruit. Also known as Pitahaya or Pitaya Fruit, it's common in Southeast Asia, Mexico, Central and South America, and Israel we discovered after looking it up on the internet. They come in a few different types, the kind we bought was the white variety:
This is what the inside looks like:
It looks almost kiwi-like with the little seeds, and you can scoop out the white fruit with a spoon, kind of like melon. But we found it to be fairly flavorless; not too interesting. To this family of fruit connoisseurs, we don't think it was worth the outrageous price of $3.49. It sure is pretty though!
Another weird sighting around our house (which happens often with 3 boys) . . . Yesterday I found Isaac and Aaron standing by the slide of our swing set, intently watching something and yelling "go! go!" like there was some kind of race. I went out to find that Isaac had spit on the slide, and they were waiting to see how long it took for the spit to reach the bottom of the slide! gross. (but of course, I still had to run inside and grab my camera!)
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Well, it's been a dark few weeks . . .
Try as hard as you might, but some things just don't ever turn out the way you would like.
We all know this a fact of life. But still, we're often surprised when it becomes obvious that our best efforts are just not enough. Especially when we're sure that we're doing the right thing, the best thing, with our circumstances.
And that's when we need to remember that we do not hold the present nor the future in our own hands. That's when we finally hear God saying "your way may be good, but my way is better." And we realize that we need to stop fighting, and release ourselves into his plan, because that's the best place to be.
That's what I've been struggling with the past several weeks. After months of being off the antidepressant medication that I've always had to take post-partum, after months of working hard to stay healthy, both physically and mentally, through natural and nutritional methods, I crashed into a bad depression.
Having had post-partum depression after the birth of each of my 3 boys, I'm no stranger to depression. But I had thought/hoped that was all behind me. This time, it snuck up on me - slowly and somewhat disguised at first. Then suddenly within a few days, it boldly made it's presence known, loud and clear in a way that couldn't be ignored.
My symptoms were similar to my previous experiences - feeling completely overwhelmed by and unable to accomplish ordinary tasks, crying a lot, feeling hopeless and despondent, having no interest in things I usually enjoy, and extreme anxiety. The anxiety caused almost constant feelings of restlessness, agitation, fear, no appetite, and the inability to relax or concentrate on anything.
For some, depression can simply be a lingering feeling of sadness. For me, I became almost unfunctional and felt like I was drowning in a deep, dark, scary pit. And that's when we knew that I needed help.
Natural, holistic methods have helped me with other chronic issues that I've had in the past. But it now became apparent that it wasn't enough for maintaining my mental health. I was so disappointed to be back at this point, and fearful of starting on antidepressant meds. again, because of side effects and that I felt that it contributed to many of the other health problems I experienced while on the medication.
I went to psychiatrist this time to get a full evaluation and to see what options there might be. She helped me understand, and finally accept, that I have a deficiency in my brain chemistry (neurotransmitters) and that I would probably need to be on medication for the rest of my life. The good news is that she felt the old medication I had been on wasn't really helping in the right way, and she wanted me to try a newer, different type of medication that has worked well for many people for long-term treatment, and with fewer side effects.
There've been some ups and downs, as there often is in adjusting to and tinkering with dosages with these types of medications. And some days I was convinced that this would never go away. But I finally began to see the light at the end of the tunnel a week or so ago, and am feeling a little more "normal" each day.
Before this, I prayed for years that God would bless my efforts to become and stay healthy by taking good care of my body. After all, God created all the herbs and vitamins and minerals that are so good for us, so why shouldn't I expect Him to answer that prayer with a "Yes"?
I was heart broken to feel that God was telling me "No". But I've slowly accepted that His "No" in this situation is really a "Yes" to another plan. His plan. A plan that I can't see fully at this point, in my limited, earthly mind. But it's a plan that He can see perfectly. And for that, I am humbled, thankful and grateful.
We all know this a fact of life. But still, we're often surprised when it becomes obvious that our best efforts are just not enough. Especially when we're sure that we're doing the right thing, the best thing, with our circumstances.
And that's when we need to remember that we do not hold the present nor the future in our own hands. That's when we finally hear God saying "your way may be good, but my way is better." And we realize that we need to stop fighting, and release ourselves into his plan, because that's the best place to be.
That's what I've been struggling with the past several weeks. After months of being off the antidepressant medication that I've always had to take post-partum, after months of working hard to stay healthy, both physically and mentally, through natural and nutritional methods, I crashed into a bad depression.
Having had post-partum depression after the birth of each of my 3 boys, I'm no stranger to depression. But I had thought/hoped that was all behind me. This time, it snuck up on me - slowly and somewhat disguised at first. Then suddenly within a few days, it boldly made it's presence known, loud and clear in a way that couldn't be ignored.
My symptoms were similar to my previous experiences - feeling completely overwhelmed by and unable to accomplish ordinary tasks, crying a lot, feeling hopeless and despondent, having no interest in things I usually enjoy, and extreme anxiety. The anxiety caused almost constant feelings of restlessness, agitation, fear, no appetite, and the inability to relax or concentrate on anything.
For some, depression can simply be a lingering feeling of sadness. For me, I became almost unfunctional and felt like I was drowning in a deep, dark, scary pit. And that's when we knew that I needed help.
Natural, holistic methods have helped me with other chronic issues that I've had in the past. But it now became apparent that it wasn't enough for maintaining my mental health. I was so disappointed to be back at this point, and fearful of starting on antidepressant meds. again, because of side effects and that I felt that it contributed to many of the other health problems I experienced while on the medication.
I went to psychiatrist this time to get a full evaluation and to see what options there might be. She helped me understand, and finally accept, that I have a deficiency in my brain chemistry (neurotransmitters) and that I would probably need to be on medication for the rest of my life. The good news is that she felt the old medication I had been on wasn't really helping in the right way, and she wanted me to try a newer, different type of medication that has worked well for many people for long-term treatment, and with fewer side effects.
There've been some ups and downs, as there often is in adjusting to and tinkering with dosages with these types of medications. And some days I was convinced that this would never go away. But I finally began to see the light at the end of the tunnel a week or so ago, and am feeling a little more "normal" each day.
Before this, I prayed for years that God would bless my efforts to become and stay healthy by taking good care of my body. After all, God created all the herbs and vitamins and minerals that are so good for us, so why shouldn't I expect Him to answer that prayer with a "Yes"?
I was heart broken to feel that God was telling me "No". But I've slowly accepted that His "No" in this situation is really a "Yes" to another plan. His plan. A plan that I can't see fully at this point, in my limited, earthly mind. But it's a plan that He can see perfectly. And for that, I am humbled, thankful and grateful.
Monday, August 3, 2009
And The Garden Goes Wild . . .
Wild in a good way, that is. Our vegetable garden is growing wonderfully this year! Last year, we gave it a rest and didn't plant anything. This year, we added about 6" in depth of topsoil mixed with composted manure on top of the planting areas.
To control weeds, we put down black landscaping fabric over the paths/walkways and have been putting grass clippings on top of that throughout the summer. That has really helped keep weed maintenance to a minimum; we'll definitely do that regularly from now on.
This is what half of the garden looked like about 2 weeks ago:
And this is the same area yesterday:
Our crop of sugar peas was much more abundant than any other year. They've been producing steadily for several weeks, but are about done for now. I think the fact that our weather hasn't been too hot kept them growing throughout July. The sugar pea plants grew to a height of at least 6' - I had to reach up to pick the top ones!
(we had to quickly rig up an additional, though awkward-looking string trellis when they wouldn't stop growing!)
The cucumber, zucchini, and summer squash plants are showing lots of promise with tons of blossoms.
We just picked out first zucchini and cucumbers last week. In past years, our cucumber plants started dying off just as they began producing. I'm not sure why, but am hoping that doesn't happen again this year.
(some of the last of the sugar peas and lettuce, and the first green pepper)
Coming soon, tomatoes and green beans:
(the poor tomato plants - I planted them a little too close together, so as they've grown, it looks like a tomato plant forest!)
Healthwise, I've been hitting some bumps in the road again. It seems like I have lots of old, long-hidden "stuff" that wants to be noticed and taken care of. Sometimes it's very frustrating, but I continue to seek natural/nutritional healing and hope that I'll soon be back in more of a maintenance mode rather than a trouble-shooting repair mode. Fresh vegetables from the garden are sure to help too!
To control weeds, we put down black landscaping fabric over the paths/walkways and have been putting grass clippings on top of that throughout the summer. That has really helped keep weed maintenance to a minimum; we'll definitely do that regularly from now on.
This is what half of the garden looked like about 2 weeks ago:
And this is the same area yesterday:
Our crop of sugar peas was much more abundant than any other year. They've been producing steadily for several weeks, but are about done for now. I think the fact that our weather hasn't been too hot kept them growing throughout July. The sugar pea plants grew to a height of at least 6' - I had to reach up to pick the top ones!
(we had to quickly rig up an additional, though awkward-looking string trellis when they wouldn't stop growing!)
The cucumber, zucchini, and summer squash plants are showing lots of promise with tons of blossoms.
We just picked out first zucchini and cucumbers last week. In past years, our cucumber plants started dying off just as they began producing. I'm not sure why, but am hoping that doesn't happen again this year.
(some of the last of the sugar peas and lettuce, and the first green pepper)
Coming soon, tomatoes and green beans:
(the poor tomato plants - I planted them a little too close together, so as they've grown, it looks like a tomato plant forest!)
Healthwise, I've been hitting some bumps in the road again. It seems like I have lots of old, long-hidden "stuff" that wants to be noticed and taken care of. Sometimes it's very frustrating, but I continue to seek natural/nutritional healing and hope that I'll soon be back in more of a maintenance mode rather than a trouble-shooting repair mode. Fresh vegetables from the garden are sure to help too!
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