Baby Jail

My mother in law is keeping the kids this weekend so I can catch up on everything that needs to be done. That list is just too long to talk about on here but the main thing I have been doing is returning things I have bought that either don't fit or we didn't like or didn't need. Standing in line with the fab 5 for a return is just out of the question. So, this has been a nice break and a nice time for them to get to stay with their Nana.

Last night, Adam and I went on a hot date-our first in maybe a year???? We went to eat and then we went to Lowes. At Lowes, Adam bought me the BEST GIFT EVER-a reinforced steel extra wide door gate!!!! Well, actually I won't know if it is the BEST GIFT EVER until the kids get home to test it. We have gone through just about every gate out there and it doesn't even slow the kids down so I am very excited to try this one out. It is 36 inches high and is extra wide so the kids shouldn't be able to get into the kitchen now. For those that don't know, when we moved back into this house, the cabinet doors were in terrible condition so we took them down, sanded them, primed them, and planned to paint them. Then, things got out of control with Weston's health so everything was put on the back burner so we could take care of him. Needless to say, for months Sutton's favorite activity has been to get out tupperware or all of my canned goods-or anything else his little heart desires. I can't wait for Sutton to come home and see his new baby jail gate =)

Knoxville On A Dime: Kohls.com - THe Big One Bath Towels for only $2.40...

Knoxville on a dime is one of my fav new blogs to follow. They have deals EVERYDAY! Day before yesterday, I got a free baby sling and just had to pay shipping. Anyways, since we are the most towel-going-through-est (real word) people ever, I couldn't resist getting some new towels.

Knoxville On A Dime: Kohls.com - THe Big One Bath Towels for only $2.40...: "If you are in need of some new towels, HURRY over Kohls and you can get The Big One Bath Towels for just $2.40 EACH ($0.79 for wash cloths..."

And so we wait....and wait....and wait

The week has been filled with doctor appointments. I had high hopes on Monday when I went to the doctor about Avery that she would say "oh you are ready to go into labor any minute so we will go ahead and plan to induce you next week if you don't go before then". Apparently, that was in my dreams. Instead I got "You are not progressing and being induced now would increase my risk of a c-section". She is also measuring small. My belly only measures at 34 weeks-but 2 weeks ago she weighed 6lbs 8oz on the ultrasound. Needless to say, she is SQUISHED (drs own words). Now, I probably wouldn't find this so shocking if this wasn't our 5th! baby! What the heck is Avery waiting for? Did I mention I hate waiting? Did I mention how miserable the last few weeks of pregnancy are? I did have a couple of hours of contractions the other day. I kept telling myself I should start timing them because I knew they were coming close, but I was busy with the kids. Easton and Weston got excited because they said "Mommy, if you go into labor, we are going to call 911 so they can land a helicopter to take you to the hospital" When I told them that I think that would be a bit much they said "Well, we don't want to deliver a baby". The contractions went away so it wasn't the real deal. I always worry about going to the hospital and not be in labor. When I went to the hospital when I went into labor with Weston, I couldn't even decide when to go. I didn't want to be sent home and them think "oh that crazy lady". Instead, I kept waiting. Even after we got there and the dr said I was 6cm dilated, I still asked if they were going to send me home.

In homeschooling this week, we have been focusing on reading stories. Sometimes, I feel like we don't spend nearly enough time reading things the kids really want to read. They LOVE Magic Schoolbus. They could read the books over and over again. We also got out the "fall" books. I was blessed to work at the Child Study Center in college and I would buy lots of books off of the Scholastic orders. Needless to say, we have tons. Tennessee (and maybe other states?) have the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. Once you sign up, they send your child a brand new book, age appropriate, every month until age 5. Babies get board books and then older children get page books. We have quite the library collection between the Fab 5 and I am still figuring out a way to organize them all.

Toy/book organization is something we struggle with. Right now, we are using tubs for the toys. I rotate their toys monthly to give them variety but SOMEHOW, everytime I get "help" with the laundry, a few more toys make it upstairs. I also throw out toys every week-broken, chewed, dirty, etc. Stuffed animals are always the first thing to be thrown out. Thankfully, a good stomach virus wipes out most of those. All of the toys we have get dishwashed every week. That usually gets rid of a few things. The books are all in crates. I rotate them seasonally. I found a bookshelf that I don't think the kids can destroy so they may get it for Christmas. With Christmas coming, I will be bagging up their old toys and donating them.

Functioning Again

After 2 weeks in Philadelphia, we are home. Well, actually we have been home for a week. Adam has worked long hours everyday since we got home so I have been working on trying to get everyone back on schedule. We were still finding our schedule with homeschooling before we left and while we were in Philly, we did what we could when there was some free time. So, Monday morning we started a new "school" routine. Then, my plans came to an abrupt halt. We noticed in Pennsylvania that Easton was mastering his math very quickly. He loved the manipulatives and would zoom through the lessons. On the way home, I got to looking at his math book and he is almost done. ALMOST DONE with what should have taken him a year (can you feel the panic)! So, I have chosen some concepts to work on (money, time, etc) while his 1st grade math gets shipped to us. Which moves us onto Tuesday. Things were going well. Easton has been reading for over a year and it has always been an easy concept for him. I had out our reading program (it has like 20 little books that they kids work through). Well, next thing I know, Easton picks up number 20 and starts reading away. We are going to finish working through the rest of the Hooked on Phonics Kindergarten reading program. He should get done with it this week. Thankfully, when we bought the Kindergarten set, we got the 1st and 2nd grade as part of the kit.

Wonderful things have happened since we started homeschooling. Weston was not the least bit interested in learning until this year. Now, he wants to do school all of the time. The girls are also interested and they all sit around the table so nicely with their "cool" boxes. Sutton could care less what they are all doing. He is just happy to have the toys all to himself. By the end of the day, Weston has done about as much Kindergarten as Easton. Weston is not as advanced with Math or Reading but he enjoys the Science curriculum quite a bit. We also got him his own handwriting curriculum to learn to make his letters. His fine motor skills are quite behind because of his 3 open heart surgeries. He loves making his letters with the wooden pieces and enjoys tracing all of the letters and animals. It is amazing to see how much they love to learn. It has really helped me feel like homeschooling is the right thing for us.

A little bit of homeschooling

While I had planned to start Easton's Kindergarten last week, I was busy trying to set things up for Philadelphia-which is just a full time job in itself. So, we started today. Easton is a great student. He really just soaks up whatever he is learning and catches on so easily. He really enjoyed doing his Math and Reading. He already reads and enjoys reading. Tomorrow, we will do Science and History/Bible. I had it on our list to do today but as I also learned today, lists are WAY overrated. Weston really surprised me-well, shocked me is more like it. He sat at the table and put his letter pieces from the Handwriting Without Tears set. He made the letters E and F a few times and even did a page in the workbook with a little help from me. I have not been this shocked by Weston since he pottytrained himself at 17 months. I pictured Weston screaming and throwing a fit that I would make the little prince himself learn to write but he must have decided that writing is one of those things he is going to have to be able to do in order to move away from me, one day.

The girls started their All About Me books and made self-portraits. Then, they screamed and fought for the rest of school time. Sutton wandered around and would occasionally come put his head in my lap to cry. I don't think he was used to playing by himself and certainly not used to having to share the "Mommy spotlight".

I already made some changes. First, I threw out the list I had made. It was useless. We got through about half of what I had planned-which is a good start, but I like lists where I can cross everything off. Another change I made was to reorganize the cubbies that I have all of their hs stuff in. I had organized it when we first moved in but have since bought tons of other books so it really needed to be redone. I also decided that Easton and I will do History after Adam gets home. I may rotate around which subject we do at night so that Easton will get to have some 1 on 1 peaceful time to think.

Canning-I haven't blown anyone or anything up yet!

So far, in my canning adventures, I have canned green tomatoes, green beans, tomatoes, roasted tomato sauce, salsa, peach honey (it was going to be jam but turned into a more honey-like substance instead), peach jam, and blueberry jam. After all of this, you would think that I might have some clue about what I am doing-but not really. I still refer to my Ball Blue Book for everything. What I do know is that green beans are alot of work for the amount you get. I am totally against green beans anyways because, in my mind, by the time you boil them to death, there really isn't alot of nutritional valve. I am still working on how to make the jams lower in sugar. I think I need a canning book for diabetics or something. The first time I went to make the peach jam which turned into honey, the recipe called for 4 cups of peaches and 7!!!! cups of sugar. It was SWEET! Like the sweetest peach you have ever eaten. The blueberry jam I made today called for 7 cups of sugar but I only used 4. It turned out so good! We bought 60 pounds of peaches today at the Farmer's Market. I had meant to freeze peaches and make more peach jam but we got lost canning tomato sauce. Adam's garden has really taken off. He is quite the tomato grower!!! If you notice the picture, it is of our dining table that seats 8. That was from not picking tomatoes for 3 days. Since this photo, it has now been 3 more days and it has rained. I am almost afraid to see how many tomatoes he brings in for us tomorrow!

On Monday, the plan is to start Easton's Kindergarten. If we don't start Monday, we will definitely start one day next week. I am excited and nervous at the same time. I have most of the curriculum and made lists and lists on top of lists-even though I know, after about 2 days of doing what is on the list, we will find our own routine. He is so excited though. Tomorrow, after church, I told him we would go to Walmart and he could pick out his own folder. We bought some school supplies there the other night and the only thing he said he wanted was a pack of erasers. Maybe little boys don't get the same excitement from new school supplies that little girls do. I always loved getting all new stuff. He is excited to start his Math curriculum. We chose Saxon math and after reading it, I have been pretty impressed. I love that they do lots of hands on activities and I like it that their is a review everyday. I am a little unsure about how the reading stuff is going to go. We bought Abeka for K but Easton has been reading short books for a year so all of the Kindergarten stuff that I bought seems geared more to kids who cannot read at all. I think we are going to go ahead and let him read through all of the Kindergarten books and if he seems to do ok with them, we will buy first grade materials. As far as everything else, we have Bob Jones Bible Truths, Story of the World (for History), History of Little Pilgrims, some other history that had some neat activities, McRuffy Science, Explode the Code for handwriting, Hooked on Phonics for more reading, and I am getting ready to order Apologia Science because the McRuffy seems geared more for preschoolers. I will still use the McRuffy for the younger ones. For Literature, we are doing a mix of Five in a Row, On The Loose With Dr. Seuss, and a couple of other books that center a theme around a story. Yes, I am a bit of a curriculum collector and maybe even a curriculum snob. I like the idea of picking and choosing the best lessons for learning. Some books have really great information while others have much better hands on activities-which are a must to hold the kids attention. For Weston, we got Handwriting Without Tears. We have had lots of doctors tell us that after his surgery, he may have some fine motor issues and HWOT is the best handwriting curriculum for someone with issues. And, we will do the Letter of the Week stuff with Weston and the girls. I tried to get Weston to do it last year but he wanted nothing to do with it-which was fine. Now that he is a year older, he seems to be more interested in letters and learning to read like Easton. It amazes me that they have such different learning styles. Easton is so focused, hands on, and such a perfectionist. Weston, on the opposite end of the spectrum, could care less about learning anything that HE doesn't want to-which means if you aren't wanting to learn about dinosaurs, bugs, firetrucks, or John Deere's-his ears are turned off. I should also add that after I have worekd so hard to plan out the school year, teachers are horribly underpaid! I will update next week on how it is going and perhaps add a picture of Easton (now that I know how to add picts).

Summer's Coming!!!

Spring has arrived and where have I been??? Well, long story short, we are moving (this is really an understatement, we are redoing the house I grew up in that needs TONS of help), Weston needs heart surgery soon and very far away (Boston or Denver), and we are expecting a new baby in early October. That about sums up the last couple of months.

While I was moving, I came across a vegetarian cookbook that my friend Jamie gave me. I think vegetarians would use those recipes as meals, but to Adam, a meal is not a meal unless it includes meat. I came across one of my favorite recipes that I changed a little. I think in the book it was called Black Bean Side or something similar. It was meant to be served hot over rice-which we have eaten it but we like it better cold. Like I have told you before, I don't like to measure. It's not that I can't measure-it is just that by the time I find all of the little measuring cups and spoons, someone or SOMEONES have gotten into what I am trying to make and either eaten it, dumped it in the floor, or dumped something into it (how the playdough got into the muffins).

2 cans of black beans rinsed and drained
a few tomatoes chopped up
some garlic-depending on your taste
Some chopped red onion
cilantro (omit it if you hate it-we love it)
a couple of limes worth of juice (or a squirt of the stuff from the bottle)
a little salt
a diced jalepeno or habenero if you like spicy

I make it and put it in a tupperware and let it sit overnight in the fridge. It is yummy on top of tacos-fish tacos being our favorite, on salads, or as a dip for tortilla chips. Our good friends gave us tuna steaks and I grilled them with salt and pepper and we served the cold black bean salad on the side. It was yummy together!