Hooked on Phonics

When we started our homeschool journey, I was looking for a reading curriculum for Easton. He already knew the basics of reading and could sound out short words. He had already read all of the "Bob books" and was reading short number 1 books like Biscuit. Well, I got an email from Hooked On Phonics and they were offering a special-Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade for like 30 dollars. I ordered it thinking that even if Easton hated it, surely 1 of the other kids would eventually like it. We got it and started on the Kindergarten immediately. Easton LOVES it! There is lots of repetition-lots of sounding out words-lots of practice. Now, I will warn you, the books leave MUCH to be desired and I certainly wouldn't say they are well written or even make tons of sense. The books do, however, come with easy review questions to make sure your little one is actually paying attention to the story and not just reading the words. The pack also comes with a chart that they put stickers on for each story they read. After such a positive experience with it, I am going to look into their other curriculum. Weston is even jealous that Easton can read so he wants to do the HOP stuff too.

Easton finished his Kindergarten pack last week so we are going onto 1st grade. I am glad he enjoys reading so much. I am going to look into more of the HOP stuff. I can't lie though-I completely feel like that commercial "Hooked On Phonics worked for me".

Back to work

No, not me. I am not heading back to work outside the home anytime soon. I happen to have at least 5 friends that are heading back to work in the next few days or who have gone back in the past few days. I think to read other people's posts about them going back is very interesting. Some people blatently say that women should stay at home while others say going back to work is the only way to keep sane. I resent both of these opinions. One person made staying at home sound like you were waisting your life away (again, I resented his opinion). I believe that everyone (everyone sane anyways) does what is best for their family. I don't have the heart to tell the stay at home brigade that sometimes, secretly, it would be nice to talk to someone over the age of 5 everyday, go to the bathroom alone, or eat lunch that hasn't been touched by toddler hands. I also don't have the heart to tell the working mothers brigade that I like being here for all of the kids milestones, snow days, boo boo's, and doctor's visits.

I went back to work for a grand total of about a week after Easton was born. I never wanted to stay home. It wasn't even something I thought about. I had a great daycare lined up for him with a phenominal lady to be his teacher. But, everyday I would leave him and cry and cry. I hated my job as a church financial officer (basically, I told poor people the church didn't have money to help them). So, one day, driving Easton to daycare, I called Adam at work and told him I wanted to stay home. He said fine and to go back home. I am not sure what I would have done if he has said no. It ended up being a blessing because when Weston was born, he had so many complications and immune issues that daycare was never even a thought.

I hate when people make generalizations about stay at home moms. Most of the SAHM's I know are well educated and rather intelligent people. None of us lay around all day eating bon bons watching Oprah. The same goes for my friends who returned to the outside the home workforce-they are intelligent people who love their kids. It just seems like outsiders want to make everything into a war of the stay at home moms vs the working moms.

So congrats to all of the moms-working or stay at home-we are all doing the very best we can.

the house that love built

No, I am not talking about the RMD House-I am talking about our house. As most everyone knows, we decided last spring to move back into the house I was raised in and sell our house in Kingsport. Well, we have yet to put it on the market (we have been a LITTLE busy). This weekend, we are heading over to put the finishing touches on it and talk to the realtor next week to get it sold. I have mixed feelings. The house was the first place Adam and I bought that was "ours". We had 2 sets of neighbors-1 old, grouchy couple and 1 of the sweetest families you have ever met. We still go back to visit them-the nice family, not the grouchy couple. I know the house we are in now is a much better fit. The kids have 8 acres to roam with a creek and a waterfall. They see tons of wildlife and have really enjoyed the garden and animals. Adam is happier here too. He has his garage and lots of room for his animals and garden. I am still getting used to a much smaller kitchen. I do love all of the storage though.

So, we have been back in my grandma's old house for almost a year. We have done lots of work. My sister had trashed it and there was stuff piled to the ceiling. We spent the first few months taking truck loads of trash to the dump. We removed wallpaper and painted. We ripped up some of the most disgusting carpet you have ever seen (I am completely ANTI-carpet). The rooms look different but the same in so many ways. Adam has cut down the tulip tree that blocked the sun from letting grass grow in part of the front yard-making a mud pit for the kids anytime it rained. He has even tackled some of the front bushes. Anyone who has ever come to our house remembers the huge bushes. My grandma liked them for privacy-I want them gone so I can see out! We are hopeful that in the next year we will do more extensive home improvements. More trees gone-some new windows, redo the laundry area to make room for 2 washers and dryers, paint the celings, change the fireplace over to gas, blah blah blah.

When my grandparents bought this house, I doubt they ever expected that 30 years later, I would be living here with my husband who wants to be a farmer and our 6 Littles. I never thought that I would have moved back here either.

Please don't feed that to our kids!

Oh the holidays. I try to love them and be social but, to be honest, I would like to start planning our vacations during them so we can just be with each other. That sounds awful, I know, and I am sure it's not going to happen anytime soon. 1 of the things that drives me insane is when people think the holidays give them the freedom to give our kids all kinds of crap to eat. They always give me the typical "oh it's good for them". No folks, I hate to break it to you-pumpkin pie is NOT that good for you-nor is sweet potato caserole or gravy.

I recently started having the "aura" of migranes again and am going to have to be really careful about what I eat. This may end up being a good thing for our winter diets. I had terrible, awful migranes for about 5 years. Their were tons of triggers and it always seemed like I was eating something or doing something that brought them on. When I got pregnant with Easton, I had 1 really bad one and had a seizure with it. The doctor said that as long as I never had an epidural or spinal, never went back on hormone birth control, and watched what I ate-that they should stop. He was right-for almost 6 years I have been migrane free until this past week. I am sure it is the crazy foods I have been eating-nothing really too terrible for me but defintely stuff with preservatives. There are lots of triggers that I have read about online and I can't direct my migranes at any of them.

I just got done finished reading "The Makers Diet" and the author brought up some interesting points about what we put into our bodies. If you haven't read it, it is super cheap on Amazon. I am going to write a longer post about the book later.

A fabulous day

Today, I took the kids to the doctor alone. I know this sounds crazy to be proud of but there are 6 of them and only 1 of me. The doctor is not an easy place to take 1 kid! I even have a nice story of Weston running around our doctors office in his underwear when he was 18 months. I realized we needed to run by Gymboree and do my hold for the day after Thanksgiving. We got to the mall, got everyone out, and realized Adam had taken my stroller out to clean the car out. I needed (yes, needed, like an addict) the blue dresses for the girls for next Christmas (again, yes, I know I am nuts). So, the older boys held Sutton's hands, the girls held hands, and I carried the baby in the infant carrier (I forgot all of the slings/Bjorns at home!!!). We went to Gymboree which is not an easy store for any kids. The oldest 5 sat on the little bench and watch tv, Avery slept in the carseat, and I ran frantically around getting my hold together (thanks Amanda-you are a lifesaver). I was nervous to even attempt going to eat. The food court is a loooong ways (maybe not long to people used to GIANT malls but long for tiny legs) away. The kids said they wanted Chickfila so off we went. We got on the elevator, off the elevator, they sat at a table while I got their food, and they ate so nicely. People came up and said how great they were. I have never been so proud!!!!! Then, Easton and Weston wanted refills so they asked and then went up and got them from the cashier all by themselves!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The man at the Mediterranean place kept going on about how good they were. We left the mall and went and dropped off meds at Walgreens then went to Food City where we were almost run over (NO fault of ours) and the kids were great in there too.

It's days like this that are a breath of fresh air. It is days like this when I could have 10 kids! It is so easy to be stuck at home and I think we all get crazy. I am thankful for my husband and our 6 little blessings. I hope you all have a fabulous Thanksgiving!

Day Planner

A few years ago, my good friend Pat decided that since I had a couple of kids (I only had 2 and was pregnant with Emery), that I needed a family organizer. This was one of the best gifts I have ever recieved. It has a perforated side spot for a menu and a grocery list. I has a big area for "to do" lists. It is spiral bound so when the kids smush it or step on it, it stays in 1 piece. And, my favorite thing is that the days (where you write in your appointments and such) are big-more than big enough for a couple of appointments written in, in 1 day. There are stickers for birthdays, paydays, reminders about school, etc. There is a quick reference for phone numbers and addresses in the back. There is also a an area for the family budget but I don't trust myself enough to put any financial info in there because it also has our address in it. There are 2 verisons-the classic and the Christian. The Christian one has Bible verses for each week and the classic one has classic quotations. I love it!!!!!!

http://www.amazon.com/2011-Amy-Knapps-Family-Organizer/dp/1932751599/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1290449084&sr=8-2

Thanksgiving

I am finding it a little shocking that this is my 7th year cooking our Thanksgiving meal. It just seems like yesterday, it was my first. The year after my grandma died, it became my job to cook Thanksgiving. Thank goodness Adam barely remembers that Thanksgiving because it was rough. Not that my cooking was the problem but my sisters were just insane. Things have calmed a lot since that first Thanksgiving. I still do most things exactly like my grandma did. We always eat at 11am on Thanksgiving Day like we did when she was alive. This works out good for us because the kids usually nap around 12:30. I cook most of the same foods-turkey, her dressing recipe, green beans, corn, her pumpkin pie recipe, and mashed potatoes. I have added a few new things-sweet potato caserole, usually something chocolate because I hate pie, and we eat yeast rolls instead of the traditional rolls she used to serve. For the most part, I like cooking. I like that now my sisters and kids have the same memories of Thanksgiving that I had as a kid. It also works out nicely with Adam's family. They always celebrate the weekend after Thanksgiving. I am thankful that we don't have to travel to see our family.

For those who read about my little homeschooling breakdown last week, I am reworking our schedule. Unfortunately, with 6 "Littles", I don't think it will be smooth sailing for awhile. We will get through it though and even on the crazy days, I am thankful for the chaos.

I got a fabulous new book called "Large Family Logistics". I know many people like Fly Lady but her ideas are just not realistic for a big family. I can clean each room for 5 minutes every hour of the day and the kids are like mini-tornadoes right behind me. I found that stressful. I also never really got into the "shine your sink" philosphy. To be honest, if the rest of the house looks upside down (which, no matter how clean it is before we go to bed, the kids mess it up in 5 minutes MAX), having the sink shine doesn't make me feel any better at all. The LFL book seems to focus on specific things on specific days-adding in the "4 by 4" which means 4 loads of laundry by 4 everyday. I am going to change up the days a bit because our "Town Day" will vary depending on what kind of doctor we need to go to.

Here is their idea of how the days should go:
Monday-Laundry day (mending, ironing, hanging-etc)
Tuesday-Kitchen Day (to make bread for the week, meals for the week, clean our fridge, and clean the kitchen)
Wednesday-Office Day (to pay bills, balance the checkbook, organize your menu plan, blog, etc)
Thursday-Town Day (dr appointments, grocery shopping, etc)
Friday-Deep Cleaning Day (massive decluttering, wash and change sheets, rotate around which room to deep clean-dining room, school bookshelves, bathrooms, bedrooms, living room, playroom, etc).
Saturday-Gardening Day (all things outdoors)
Sunday-Rest Day


Bathroom cleaning is also everyday. If you see the sea of water that 6 kids baths produce, cleaning the bathroom is really not even considered a chore. Bath mats are not for us! I use a giant towel and use it to mop up all of the water that our little darlings leave me. While they bathe, I wipe down everything I can in the bathroom and occasionally scrub the toilet.

1 thing that the book really stresses that we already do is to not allow toys in the kids bedrooms. They become a distraction and after I slid across the living room while pregnant this summer while trying to rush to Weston, I feel completely ok with this decision. Toys are dangerous! If you don't believe me, let me know and I will let you borrow a handful of matchbox cars.

I am not even halfway done with the LFL book but I will post more about it after I get finshed and read through my journal. So far, it has some really fabulous ideas.