He Sows, She Sews

Ski Lesson

2012-01-31T08:26:00.001-06:00

David really wanted to go skiing with someone yesterday, and he didn't have to twist Elias' arm too hard to convince him to come along. David got Elias' skis on all by himself. He spent a lot of time trying to get Elias to hold his poles right, and poor Elias who still has trouble getting his thumb in the hole of his mitten had a tough time gripping it properly.

After a few minutes of frustration, David finally realized that beginners don't start with poles. So he took Elias' poles away and said he can work up to using them since he's a beginner. I coyly asked David why he got to use poles.
"Mommy...I've been skiing for 3 years." (eyeroll)
O. Right.

The sisters decided to cheer them on from the kitchen window. Solveig loved watching them, and Silje loved holding her so she could watch.

Elias was a bit unsure at first. It took awhile to figure out how to move with them on, and whenever they would glide, it would strike him off balance.

David skied around the yard to show him how it was done. After he sped around for about 10 minutes, he enticed Elias to leave the driveway and go off into the yard and loop around the playground, chicken coop, and come on back.

Elias had fun, but was quick to get the skis off after their loop, and plow some snow with his metal tractor.

Just now as I write this, David is out for a quick after-breakfast-ski before his reading lesson will start. There's not much snow in our yard, but he won't let any of it go to waste while we have it. Elias is inside this time. David said he'll give him another lesson later. For now he just wants to race fast for a few minutes.

He and Silje's first official youth race is just a few weeks away, you know. He's in training now.
Just like Daddy.

Please Explain to Me (political tangent)

2012-01-30T16:06:00.001-06:00

Would someone out there please explain to my why the right to birth control and abortion = automatic funding. I'm so sick to death of hearing that taking away funding for abortions is taking away someone's right to something.

For instance, I have a right to own a gun. In fact, most Americans do if they don't have some sort of violent crime record. Does that mean that if I want a gun, the government should give me one? Does that mean that someone out there owes me a gun because I have the right to own one?

Let's say I need a gun for my safety. Let's say my life depends on it. Let's say I live out in Montana in bear country and I will not be able to go on my daily walk if I'm not carrying a gun. Will the government give me one then?

What about elective surgeries. Multiple studies prove that pretty people get more attention, interview better and easily make more money. Does that mean that everyone who is ugly is entitled to plastic surgery because their future happiness depends on it? If I am born with a huge nose, it's not enough to have the right to surgery. I shouldn't have to pay for it.

The Obama administration is trying to make this claim. In order for the right to birth control, abortive medications, or an abortion itself, it should be free. Well, it should be free to those who want them. Someone, though, will pay.

The one right which is not looked on too favorably by Obama is the right to practice religion. You see, if you are a religious organization and have employees, you are required to pay for their "right" to this type of care even though it goes against your beliefs. In the eyes of Obama, you can believe whatever you want. It shouldn't effect your actions, though. Your actions should be whatever he says. He's not asking for your heart. He's asking for your cash.

He does not believe that where your treasure is, there your heart is. He believes you can spend money on something you hate and your heart will not be affected. He's asking you to believe that too.

This tangent was raised in me when I read this article recently which is a call from the Catholic church saying they don't want to have to pay for health care that covers these procedures and medications that are directly against their belief system. I'm not Catholic. I'm Lutheran who is pro-life. Currently the Catholic church does pay for health care for their employees that omits these controversial, optional points. They are not against universal health care. They just don't define birth control as maintaining "health."

In their eyes, (and mine) abortions means death, not health. As far as medications, the pill is essentially breaking a perfectly healthy organ of the body with the hopes of it being temporary. The morning after pill is the same exact pill as "the pill" just a higher dosage. I say "hopes of it being temporary" because even in my small circle of friends, I know a handful that have had trouble getting pregnant after being on the pill for many years, or suffered multiple, "unexplained" miscarriages after coming off the pill...which are both associated with that medication. How is that maintaining health?

If abortion is a right, and sex is a basic human need, why isn't the government providing sex as well? If that is a basic human need, they should be making prostitutes available. What would we say to any man who demanded sex from a woman because sex was a basic need of his, and he was entitled to it?

If going to church is a right, why do I have to tithe? The government should be paying my pastor to maintain my spiritual health. Isn't spiritual health important? It's my right to have one.

In fact, maybe we should be handing out cars to people who get their driver's license! I mean, they have just received the right to drive. We wouldn't want to hinder that right based on finances. Maybe they need a car for their job. Are you saying they should be unemployed because they don't have a car?

Whether or not I agree with it (and I don't) I simply do not understand the logic. Why should something be paid for because it is a right? Why should the government decide what I need and who should provide it for me? Pulling funding on abortions would no more be damaging to a woman's right to reproductive health than pulling funding for handing out guns to single mothers trying to protect their kids in gang infested neighborhoods. O wait...

BUT you say, if you hand out free guns someone may get killed or physically hurt.

My point exactly.

I'm Blessed

2012-01-30T00:01:00.002-06:00

Yesterday when I was teaching my little Sunday school class, our memory verse talked about hiding God's word in our heart. We talked awhile about what that meant. One aspect of that is memorizing the Bible, which is something I've been trying to work with them on this year. I talked to them about how once we put God's word in our heart, no one can take it from us. They could take the Bible and burn it. They could steal the Bible. They could make owning a Bible against the law, but no one could take it out of their hearts.

Then we talked about how God's word helps us to not sin.

It didn't take long before the kids asked more about why someone would ever take a Bible, or make owning a Bible against the law. None of the kids in the class (my own Silje included) had ever heard that in some places of the world, it is against the law to own a Bible. Silje told me later she knew it happened before from history books, but did not know it was still going on today.

None of them knew about the persecution of Christians going on in the world. Somehow we got talking about things around the world, and none of them knew that people actually starved to death. They all thought that was something in history. They tried to problem solve: couldn't they just grow some food, kill an animal, go to the store? These precious, innocent children could not imagine a world where Jesus was hated, the ground was too dry to grow food, and there were no animals to shoot.

I've learned so much this year teaching Sunday school on how much I assume the kids know, and am surprised they have never heard. Only one kid in my class knew John 3:16 in my class. None had ever heard the story of the Good Samaritan. Now, I realize our curriculum has been covering mainly Old Testament stories. They're only 7-8 ish years old and there's a lot of Bible to cover. I don't expect them to know each and every Bible story by 2nd grade.

It is amazing to see kids hear these stories for the first time. It is so amazing to see them grasp Biblical truths for the first time. Truths I figured everyone knew, and have become so dull to me.

As for the I'm Blessed list, I think you may know where I'm going with this story. I know there is always stuff to complain about in our country, and even things to really fight for and we will always have to fight for. Now is not that time. Now is the time to be grateful.

I'm Blessed:
-to own a Bible.
Several copies in multiple translations. Also, Bible study materials like concordances, Bible dictionaries, commentaries...(I used to work at a Bible bookstore in college and it sort of shows on my bookshelf).

-to be able to meet with other Christians at a church on Sunday.
So many Christians around the world have to meet in secret, and at the risk of their lives. We can drive up in our minivan in broad daylight, stay the morning, have a potluck, and discuss church business in an annual meeting afterward. Just like that. No soldiers, no secret handshakes, no fear of being discovered.

-to be able to teach God's word to children daily.
The Bible is big and there are lots of questions that sometimes take a lifetime to answer. Kids won't get it all in a day. They don't get it in a sitting. Discipleship is a continual thing. To see those light bulbs go off over and over, without any fear that they may tell the authorities on us, or mistakenly talk about Jesus in public and be removed from my home.

-to have to explain things like starvation, hunger, homelessness, alcoholism, and persecution to my kids.
They don't have to live it. They get to have to wrap their minds around such ideas, but the don't have to live them. They can learn these things through words and books and not personal experience.

If you'd like to participate in this "blog party" by leaving your comments, I would greatly appreciate it.

Also, while I'm at suggesting you do stuff, if you have kids you may be interested in www.kidsofcourage.com. It's the kid's website for Voice of the Martyrs and has lots of resources for teaching kids about the persecuted church. I may be going through that this week to see if there is some things I can bring to Sunday school next week. I shouldn't need to say this, but be sure to preview the stuff first and make sure your child is mature enough to handle it. They've got lesson plans, VBS materials, activity books, and an up to date blog. I just so barely found it Sunday evening, so I'll be diving into their resources this week to see what we can use for our family.

If you want to participate with your own blog post please follow these simple steps:
1. Write a blog post on how you have been blessed.
2. Either grab the "I'm Blessed" button to your right and stick it in your blog, or leave a link to this blog somewhere in your post.
3. Post the link to your specific blog post below.
4. Leave a comment. Well, this one is optional, but I'm sure if you have a blog, you know how much fun it is to get comments. ;)

Great Hair

2012-01-28T17:47:00.000-06:00

Despite what people might say, there's an amazing advantage to drooling and having your fingers in your mouth, and then tugging at your hair when you're sleepy. When you're in this phase, you wake up from your nap with the coolest hair do. It's all organic hair product.

Just ask Solveig. She'll tell you.

Midnight Musings

2012-01-28T00:01:00.010-06:00

I didn't get my weekly homeschooling post done Friday. Sorry about that. There are so many thoughts that have been running through my brain. Well, it feels like so many thoughts because the thoughts are never allowed to finish, therefore you have to start them all over again, or remember where you left off.

Solveig's getting big. Will she be my last? Some days, well...many days my kids have me climbing the walls beginning right around 4:30-5:00pm. In other words, things start falling apart right when Knut gets home. Then he tries to get them out of my hair as I try to pull together supper or set the table. Then we eat supper while constantly telling David to sit in his chair, and Silje to pull her hair out of her food, and telling Solveig to sit down. (That girl is a little magician with the high chair. Most evenings it's just less effort to just let her eat in our lap.)

The good days are when naps go as planned, and supper is something prepped already from the freezer and I can sit and do crafts with the kids and when Knut gets home we all sit in the living room and read books after supper with the kitchen clean before they go to bed. Those days aren't often enough. I think I need to put more meals in the freezer again. I'm a bit low.

Ironically enough, I felt the same way with 1 kid. I felt overwhelmed starting the same time of the day. I just wanted my space, I just wanted a moment to think...some things never change. Would 1 more really make life more difficult? It's my weaning-my-baby train of thought. There is no rush.

Well, things actually change right around midnight. The house is quiet and you check on all the kids and they are sleeping so peacefully. You have many moments to think and type in front of the computer and one of the kids comes down from bed at midnight and says a sleepy: "Good Morning, Mommy."
"Honey, it's not morning. It's still night."
"Oh. Do I have to go back to bed?"
"Yep."
"Can I get a hug first?"
"Of course."
And then their hug fills your joy bucket to the brim and instead of craving your skin to yourself and just to be left alone... something switches. You just want to hold that child as long as you can because you know in the morning he will be bigger. The frustration of the day is forgotten and your house is full of sleeping treasures.

Night is such a gift. That's probably why I can't sleep sometimes. I just love wandering around my house when it's quiet.

I have a kitchen remodel I'm sorting out in my head. It won't be for awhile yet, but I think I've realized that an island won't fit well. We'll have to stick with a peninsula. Except I want to get rid of the cabinets over the peninsula and widen it. When the time comes everything will be gutted from our kitchen, but the end result will probably be a wide peninsula with no overhead cupboards in that spot.

At night you can eat cookies and you don't have to share. You don't even have to eat them over the stove with your back turned to everyone. You can sit down.

Our pastor's wife fell today (actually, I think it's yesterday now). I'm thinking of her now as she's in the hospital. She has MS and has been down such a road the last few years. She had a bad fall today(yesterday) requiring surgery. I really haven't been updated all that much, but just enough to sit and pray. Just 2 days ago she called me and we talked for almost half an hour. I told her I couldn't commit to the ladies Bible study because I've haven't been able to make that work with homeschooling and something just had to give. She totally understood and we chatted with such ease. She never covers her struggles, has such an open heart, and clings to the Lord sometimes with such desperation. It's what I love so much about her. She said she really wanted to get together with me for coffee some time soon. I told her I would love that.

Part of me wonders if I should bring her some good coffee in the hospital and have our visit. Surgery was just today (yesterday), and I'm sure she's not up for that. I'll just pray that God's Holy Spirit would just hold her heart tonight, and these coming days...weeks...months. Lord give her strength.

When I've been praying for her throughout today, the same phrase keeps going through my head: "The joy of the Lord is my strength." Sometimes I hear Twila Paris' voice sing it and it was stuck in my head for awhile. I pray that the joy of the Lord be her strength and that she does not get discouraged.

I should go to bed. Knut will get up with the kids tomorrow, but it's not like I've got the day off. We're going to take down our Christmas decorations. Then maybe I'll work on sending out our Christmas letter. I haven't quite gotten to that. Well, the letter is written but the pictures aren't printed, and nothing is addressed or stamped. I wonder if I should skip it this year. I've wondered if I should just send out "Family Valentines" instead. Then I'd actually be ahead.

I think I need to buy another Russian novel for nights like these. Knut and I have a date planned for Sunday. Maybe after supper we can stop by a bookstore and I'll pick up The Brothers Karamazov. That one has been on my list for awhile and all the books I have right now are too interesting and just wake me up more.

Not a Single Flake

2012-01-26T09:12:00.000-06:00

Not a single snowflake

has gone to waste

in our yard.

We finally got some snow this week, and the kids have spent so much time outside. Knut has been able to do a bit of ski training on a few lakes around here. Finally! This weekend I think he's going to drive a bit to find some cross country trails with some hills. It seems that winter finally came.

Cold weather is no fun without snow.

Yarn Along

2012-01-24T23:00:00.001-06:00

This week for Ginny's Yarn Along blog party I'm sharing the same sleeve. Actually, I'm sharing another version of the sleeve, as this is the 3rd one Last week was the first version...I think. It's not that my calculations were wrong, it was that my knitting in the fair isle technique looked terrible when not knitted in the round. I conveniently hid the ugly looking parts from you in last week's post. The purling side caused these huge gaps on the edges and I just detested looking at them, which is not a great start to a handmade garment.

So I decided to work it in the round (conveniently eliminating the need to purl), and therefore started with the cuff this time. I'm content now and hope this project starts getting some traction.

As for reading, I have you lovely Yarn Along ladies to thank as this week my reading was a result from numerous recommendations of this book. I absolutely love reading history books, and I'm intrigued about Russian history because I know so little about it. I've tried to get into Russian literature in the past, and found it useful for getting through those many nights of insomnia when I was pregnant.

Normally a book does not put me to sleep but awakens my brain...except if it's Russian. It took me 5 years to get through Anna Karenina and she got me through 3 pregnancies. 1-2 pages of that book put me straight to sleep. On really bad nights I'd get almost 5 pages done.

Still, Russian literature seems to be so lofty and "brainy" to me and I'd love to understand it so I could feel smart. That's what keeps coming me back: my pride. It's not a very good reason, but what can I say? Sometimes the more you know about at topic the more interesting that topic is. I wish I were more interested in Russian literature so a good step to get there is to know more about them.

This book, though, Nicholas and Alexandra: The Classic Account of the Fall of the Romanov Dynasty is not difficult to get through. In fact, I'm learning so much about the context of Tolstoy's writings that it becomes that much more fascinating. I finally picked up this book last weekend when Solveig was sick and I spent many hours holding her on the couch with her sleeping on me. I couldn't manage knitting, so reading it was.

I got through about 80 pages on Sunday and I am in history heaven. The author paints both sides (the Romanovs and the revolutionaries) as very human, and I love it when historians do that. I hate it when historians paint one side as "good" and the other as "bad" when it's just a bunch of humans doing stupid or smart things. Alexander never wanted to be Tsar, and his father sheltered him from knowing anything about the job.

His wife was a German princess who married Alexander in a time of mourning his father (a week after the funeral) and was basically thrown into her role knowing very little Russian. Then she had multiple pregnancies requiring bed rest, after which she insisted on nursing and caring for all of her children herself...which was very unroyal. It separated her from her people and they could not connect with her because she was never in the public eye. She was caring for her children instead. Would I have done anything differently?

I know how this story ends so I'm a little sad that I'm connecting with these characters so much. That's what makes it a great book, I guess. Now I'm starting the part about Lenin's history which is a bit creepy, and a bit sad.

Of course, I have only managed about 5 pages since then. Everyone is feeling well again, and that pretty much means I'm back to nibbling at books instead of taking great big bites. You may see this book on my Yarn Along posts for awhile.

The Baby

2012-01-24T11:17:00.000-06:00

I may have mentioned that Solveig had a tough weekend. For the most part, it was just that she had a small fever at night, and was sleepy and not feeling herself during the day. We just brought her back from the doctor where she got some shots, and she just wasn't herself. Sunday morning I kept her home from church, and also discovered a new tooth had broken through.

So much for my progress in weaning. I had gotten her down to 2 feedings a day, but Saturday and Sunday turned into marathon feedings where all she wanted to do was nurse and since it was the only thing that seemed to work in making her feel better, I just let her sit and nurse all day long. The Tylenol just wasn't doing it for her.

I'd like to get into my vaccine tangent. I really would. We'll save that for another brave post. Cliff notes and quick position: We do most vaccines. We opt out of some. I showed up at the clinic and there was 2 vaccines on the list that I knew nothing about (it seems that with each new kid of mine, there is a handful of new vaccines that go with them. You know when I was a kid there was about 8 vaccines given to kids and now it's over 30 and most are completely optional but are definitely not presented as such) and I felt rushed through the whole process and the older kids were being loud and I just said "go ahead and give them to her" and when I got home, I read through the papers they gave me after the fact (how's that for informed consent?) and realized there was one I would have opted out of, and on top of that I HATE giving a baby 4 vaccines at once because it takes them a week at least to feel themselves. I know better and was kicking myself for just taking the easy way out of the doctor's office and not making the rushed doctor and noisy kids all sit there while I read the given information, and asked every question until I was satisfied.

I guess that wasn't so short.

I've made new resolutions about how I'll handle that situation in the future and I'm sure it won't happen again. I'm switching my kids doctor anyway, and I plan to call ahead and get the names of the recommended vaccines before I go so that I can look into them before we arrive.

Anyway, Solveig wasn't herself when it comes to the energy and smiles. When it came to cuteness, she was still knocking us over.

So Sunday morning while Knut took the other 3 to church, I snuggled Solveig at home. She wouldn't be put down for a second, but took about 4 cat naps that morning. My arms got tired so I got out the ring sling that I used to use with Elias before I got the Ergo. The Ergo is still my favorite carrier, but the ring sling is great for a snuggly baby in a ball.

On Monday she was much more herself, but has still been running a slight temp (right around 100 degrees) in the evening. She's also started carrying around our "Abby" doll. Silje got her at a garage sale for $.25 a few years ago and carried it around forever. David never showed interest in dolls, but Elias cared for it for a few months, though never carried it around, and now it's Solveig's favorite. Who knew that a garage sale doll with markers drawings on the head, little-to-no stuffing left and clothes mislaid somewhere in the house would still be the favorite?

We have way cooler dolls, I promise. Why we ever got the way cooler dolls, or still have the way cooler dolls I've yet to figure out. Abby seems to be all we need.

About Eggs and then Granola

2012-01-24T07:00:00.002-06:00

In this last cold snap, we've come across a new issue with our chickens. We heard that they don't lay much when it is cold, but ours keep popping out those eggs. Unfortunately, those eggs freeze. It's amazing, I learned, that when eggs freeze, it is the shell that cracks...not the membrane. So when the shell cracks, we've been letting them thaw in a bowl to be sure they're not leaking at all. The ones that go right back to normal, go in the carton. The leaky ones get thrown out.

Although, we have learned as we have started to cycle through eating these once-frozen eggs that the yolks are a bit funny when used. Maybe they're fine to eat, maybe not. They look gross and we have eggs coming out our ears, so we threw the funny yolk ones out. (Not all the frozen ones had funny yolks...just a few.)

I'll have to research it a bit to see if we should go ahead and scramble those ones up. I do know that eggs freeze well when you crack them into ice cube trays. I've done that with eggs that we've blown out and haven't used right away. I've also heard it's a handy thing when a recipe calls for 10 egg whites (like an amazing angel food cake) and you don't want to throw away 10 egg yolks. Just throw those yolks in an ice cube tray, and sprinkle a bit of sugar or salt on top (depending on their intended future use). Some recipes like cheesecake call for just the yolks.

So I need to look into what to do with the frozen-in-shell eggs. At any rate, we've started checking the coop 2-3 times a day instead of once a day to stop the problem there.

Our chickens never sit on their eggs after they are laid. We got very non-broody breeds so that they wouldn't peck the kids (or us!) when we tried to take the eggs, but I'm afraid they would all make very bad mothers.

On another food related topic, I thought I'd share my favorite new breakfast:

I've been making granola from the recipe in Katie's ebook: Healthy Snacks to Go with my own tweeks. I really need to try some of her recipes for power bars in there. The ones Knut gets for when he's ski training are so stinkin' expensive.

We've been using it with yogurt, or I prefer just a handful throughout the day as a quick and healthy snack as I'm passing through the kitchen. Lately, I've started pouring milk over it and eating it as cold cereal. Seriously, Kashi has nothing on me.

I'm wondering if granola is one of my favorite foods now if I'm a card carrying hippie. I mean, I'm breastfeeding past a year, I use cloth diapers, we raise our own eggs, I just bought a bulk bag of unbleached all-purpose flour for my breads and it was organic. I like to birth naturally and...

yeah...Knut said my shipped sailed loooooong ago.

Anyway, if you want to know what goes into a batch of granola, here's what I do. (As always, I at least make a double batch, but this is the recipe for the single version.)
3 cups oats
1/2 cup nuts (I use slivered almonds)
1/2 cup coconut flakes (I don't like coconut but it really works here)
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup honey
1/6 cup water
1 tsp vanilla

Of course, like I said I've tweeked it, and left out the sunflower seeds. I like them, but Knut doesn't. Also, I add dried cranberries to mine. The kids like to mix their granola with yogurt and sweeten it with jam. They don't like the cranberries messing with their jam stuff, so we keep the "generic granola" in a jar on the counter top and we each add what we like.

Katie's instructions are much more detailed, so I'll just leave you with: mix it all together put the wet with the wet and the dry with the dry, and then mix the wet and dry) and spread out on a rimmed baking sheet. Cook at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, then stir. Then cook it some more but stir and check on it every 5 minutes until it looks done. With my oven it takes about 20 minutes total, but really varies on how thin I spread the granola on the pan, and how big my batch is.

I need to try her soaked granola soon. She keeps talking about soaked grains and how nutritional they are.

I'm Blessed

2012-01-23T00:01:00.002-06:00

My list this week will be short, not because of the lack of blessings, but because of the abundance of them (namely 4 in particular).

I'm so thankful my house is clean because of company this weekend. I wonder if any one else's husband strategically invites company over about every 2 weeks.

I'm so blessed to know a family that just butchered their steer and did not need all the meat and "sold" me some at a "please just take this so we have room in our freezer" price. We're going to be eating pretty good the next month or so. We went over for a visit and had no idea we'd be coming home with a box full of roasts and ground beef (and a few steaks!)

I'm thankful for a warm fire on these cold days.

I'm thankful for snow that covers the ground. So many people in this house have been waiting for that for so long.

I'm thankful for all the snuggles I've gotten with Solveig lately. She got another tooth this week and has been running a small temperature. I'm not thankful she's been feeling crummy, but there is always an upside, and the upside is I'm privileged enough to be the one she wants to snuggle. Babies don't just pick anyone, you know.

I'm thankful for a mom who not only supports me as a mother, but loves Knut like a son. I wish she lived closer.

I'm so blessed with a husband who gets the kids breakfast after another tough night with a baby who is waking often because of these teeth (and some recent shots).

If you want to join the "I'm Blessed" party, go ahead and leave a comment, or if you're a blogger, you can leave a link to your very own "I'm Blessed" post for us to go read. Just be sure to put a link in your post to this blog. It's good to share the specific ways that God has blessed us. He knows our needs and our deepest desires and blesses us in so many unique ways. It is good to remember and reflect on what He has done.

Teacher Notes

2012-01-20T07:00:00.017-06:00

*Sigh* We had a good week. Getting back into school after vacation was really tough. I didn't say before, but one day we didn't do school because I thought it was Saturday, and didn't realize it was actually a Thursday until I was getting ready for the next day (which I thought was Sunday) and realized I was all mixed up.

I wanted to do some flower disection with Silje this week, but I couldn't seem to remember to buy some flowers when I was in town. I'm really looking forward to that for the main reason that it will bring fresh flowers in our house.

Silje passed a huge milestone in Chinese this week. She was extremely excited about that. She's probably more excited about a Valentine making party I suggested we have with her little friends from homeschool group. The party planner in her is coming out in full force.

We finished reading together A Door in the Wall which honestly is the first book we have read on our homeschooling journey that we both didn't like. We're now onto Robin Hood and it's a bit better. We're submerged in medieval times right now.

We're going through a huge change because this week was the first week that David was doing school work everyday. He's in kindergarten, and we've been working pretty much when he's in the mood. That sounds so "unschoolish" for me, but I've been waiting for him to mature a bit to handle the work. Even so, for a kindergarten-er, he's reading fairly well, and doing 1st grade math so we've got time to wait for his maturity to catch up.

This week, though, has been amazing. We've gotten into a great routine that fits us both and he does way more work than he needs. He does about 4 lessons of Saxon math a day (a grade level ahead) and then I require that he does one lesson from his McGuffey reader a day. (Last fall I required he did 3 lessons a week, and I fit them to when it worked. He's fully capable of every day now without any battles, so that's what we do.)

He's also been reading aloud to me Adventures of Little Bear which might just be his favorite book of all right now. He is loving Little Bear and his friends so much and sometimes has to stop reading because he's laughing so hard.

Even so, he does not read on his own time like Silje does, but asks to do math pretty much all the time. When he doesn't have a worksheet in front of him, he asks me to quiz him and I have to think of addition and subtraction problems (still in the single digits) to try to "trick him."

We've also started doing a little Bible together, just David and I. Silje really excels in this subject, and where she excels he normally doesn't put forth any effort so I've decided to split this subject up for the time being and work with them individually instead of as a group. I just don't want them to be competitive in this subject.

I've been trying hard to keep all the kids close. I'm still so inspired by the woman at Raising Godly Tomatoes to keep my kids close and not push them off or try some way to occupy them away from me when I'm annoyed. I don't think I follow anyone else's parenting plan to the letter because my own family is unique. However, sometimes I think we younger moms need the wisdom of mothers like her who have a bit of wisdom to pass on.

Elias has been in our classroom/dining room all the time. It's been great because we've actually been able to devote some serious time to potty training, although I'm a bit discouraged how that's been going.

I brought the Pack 'n' Play into the classroom/dining room so Solveig can be forced to stay with us since she's always on the move now and I don't like her disassembling the bookshelves as often as she likes to do. Actually, she's started listening so much lately it's been fun. We've been doing a lot of "games" together where I tell her "no" when she is out of the Pack 'n' Play and walking near something I don't want her to touch like the dictionary. She'll smile and step back, and wait for me to say with a smile "now come here!" and she walks to me in the fastest pace she can muster.

I can tell she's really sensitive because even when I tell her "no" I have to do it in a sweet voice. If there is any firmness in my tone at all she bursts into tears and comes to me for a hug. She'll obey the sweet voice, so we'll stick with that for now. I prefer that anyway. We know not all of my kids are like that...

So that's what our school has looked like this week. Today we're going to go in search of some skiing and friends, and may bring some school along.

A Warm Project

2012-01-19T08:38:00.000-06:00

Since Knut finished the fireplace mantel this winter, I've been having fun decorating. I'm still playing around with it, so it might change often while I find my favorite ways to do it. I thought I'd show you a picture of how it was for Christmas:

I found on Pintrest some chalk boards as decoration on a mantle, and then remembered there was some old slate boards salvaged from an old one room school house around here and left in the summer kitchen before we moved here. Knut got one of them cut down to fit nicely, and it's my backdrop for decorating.

I am SO in love with the slate board. It's so easy to write on compared to a modern chalk board, and the fact it's a salvaged antique just makes me love it even more.

The window is one I got at a garage sale about 3 years ago for $2. Knut rolled his eyes when I brought it home but he really likes it here. I got a little wreath to hang from the knob on there, but the red was too strong and clashes with all the other reds in the room, so I am looking for a replacement for it.

Last night I finally erased the Christmas message, and have started work on a new board:

I think we may try to get our Christmas things down today. I'll have to figure out something new for the mantel. For now I'm putting up new writing, and on this cold, cold day (-20 F air temp! Yikes!) I'm going to draw a little snow flake, step back so my pants don't set on fire, wait until I get cold again, and brave the extreme hot for a few minutes more. (It's heavy slate, and not something I'll brave taking down and moving away from the fire to draw on.)

It's a wonderfully warm job for such a cold day. I'm thinking of moving off the Christmas-y things and moving over some more snowmen things, maybe some silver candlesticks. The wreath needs to go in a different room, and I'm on the lookout for a new mini wreath. Shopping will be for another day, though. That is not a warm project.

Yarn Along

2012-01-18T08:39:00.001-06:00

Coming in a little late, this is me joining Ginny's Yarn Along party. I love knitting and reading, and it's not hard to write about either of those 2 things that I love.

This week for reading I'm going through my new copy of Joy of Cooking. With my resolution to make a new recipe a week, I thought I'd need some help. I wish I would have seen this cookbook earlier in my homemaking career because it is about 50 cookbooks in one. I don't need a separate canning cookbook, or freezer guide, or so many other things. I think this book will keep me busy for the next 30 years or so.

I'm actually making notes of recipes to try first and am filling a notebook full of ideas. Knut is so excited.

As for knitting, I'm currently working on this sleeve for a cardigan for me. It's one of my own designs, and I'm debating at this point if I have given myself enough ease. It seems to be a problem when I knit for myself, and I want this one to be really cozy.

So far I really love how the color pattern is working out, and plan to stay with that! It is puckering a little more than I would like, but I think it will block out quite nicely...I hope.

I'm Blessed

2012-01-16T00:01:00.014-06:00

I'm so blessed. This week I've been loving the time at home. This little girl has been wearing me out a bit, but that's what happens when little ones grow up. They grow into moving little ones, and not sleeping during the day as much little ones. She worked on 2 molars over Christmas, and I believe 2 more are working their way through now, hence a stuffy nose to boot.

But she completely wins my heart about every moment of every day. Earlier this week she woke up (after a full night sleep! Yeah!) around 6am (not-so-much yeah!) and so I brought her back to our bed in hopes that she would coo quietly as I just rested my eyes for a few more minutes. She was so hyper, though, and just crawled between Knut and I giving us each big slobbery kisses.

She's really into giving us kisses lately. She means it too. She'll grab your neck, or hair by your neck and pull you in for a good face to face press with her mouth wide open.

Anyway, it was dark and she sort of missed my face one time and we hit heads and I yelped "Ouch!" and she thought that was funny and tried the sound of that funny word, "aaaa-ch." We laughed at the clarity of it, and she's been saying "Aaa-ch" all day ever since.

I'm so blessed.

I'm so blessed by David who has been just a gem lately, especially with Elias. (Not only that, but he just begs to wear a tie every Sunday. We give in sometimes. He doesn't have a lot of shirts that go well with ties.) Anyway, he's been playing with Elias all the time and has been so patient with him. It's nice when the fighting is at a lull and the play time is long.

I'm also blessed by this guy.

He's had a bit of a cold but his whining has gone WAAAAAYYYY down this last week. I've been trying really hard to get down eye to eye with him. It's a bit of a leg workout, but I'm finding that his whining comes to a halt when I do this, and I think he was just worried that we weren't hearing him (even though we talked back to him always, and answered him always.) It's like when I get down to his level, he feels like we heard him wholeheartedly, and then he does what we say (even if it's the opposite of what he wants) without any fuss.
Elias: "More cookies!"
Me: "Elias, that was your last one. You may not have any more cookies."
Elias: "COOKIES!!!"
Me (getting down to his eye level): "Elias, I said you may not have any more cookies."
Elias: "OK, Mommy."

It's never worked like that with my other kids. Goes to show each one is different. It's nice to finally skip the other methods of discipline, and he's even using his pleases and thank yous more.

I'm so blessed to have found something that works...for now. And I bet I'm getting some sort of leg workout thrown in.

Then there's my Silje. This girl has been hiding herself lately in books more than usual. I snuck up on her for this picture. She was that focused. She's been having a tough time lately with listening, and Knut and I have had several conversations about how to soften her heart. I worry when I see her harden herself towards us, or to her siblings.

So this weekend Knut and I worked out for Silje and I to have some special 1 on 1 time together. Silje and I had cookies and tea (she loves tea parties) and talked about all that was on her mind. I don't think it was anything huge, but she seemed stuck in an attitude funk. (Don't we all get like that?) We talked. I gave her a project to work on that she's really excited about and has stopped moping around.

I'm so blessed to be able to disciple her. I can't think of a better word for our relationship sometimes.

Lastly, for my hubby. If I ever submit him for a "sexiest-man-of-the-year" contest, this might be the photo I submit:

Seriously people. I'm so stinkin' blessed. I love this man so much. O, does he ever put up with me and lifts me up when I feel like I'm drowning sometimes. I don't see this sight often, but when he is home and is able, he does take a crabby baby or a chore that normally is on my list. I know he's saying "I love you." I may just print this off and put it by our old love letters from college. When I'm annoyed with him I'll take it out and look at it to remind myself that he does help out, and he's really not so bad.

Thank you, Jesus, for letting me live with these sweet people. I'm so blessed.

If you want to share how God has blessed you, either leave a comment, or if you blog, leave a blog link to your blog post about blessings. Just be sure to have a link to this blog in your post.

Teacher Notes

2012-01-13T10:51:00.000-06:00

We're back at school this week in full force. It's been an adjustment, but truly not as difficult as I anticipated. The kids were more excited than I was, in fact. Silje is now totally immersed in her reading again. I need to get on top of some craft activities for her. We've resumed doing our read aloud books after the other kids have gone to bed, and I've added to that our history reading. It's just so much easier to get through the couch reading when the little ones are in bed.

Solveig is trying to convince me she only needs one nap a day, so our normal afternoons of getting some history reading done is a little tricky these days.

David has really surprised me with his creativity this last week. One morning when his basic reading was done, he made Elias and himself these pirate hats based off of our art book that he was looking through. He did it all himself without any prodding or help from me.

He's normally not one to pick up paper and scissors (although he is a fan of tape...). They found themselves swords and started pirating the whole house (which mostly consisted of running and occasionally stopping to say "Argh!!" O, and they also built a pirate ship out of couch cushions in the basement and sailed to many far off places.)

I'm really trying to catch up in our grammar program. Shurley English in my opinion is very detailed and advanced. It's why we love it. I didn't learn half the stuff in there until college, and some trains of thought might even think this type of grammar is not necessary until you are passed elementary. Still, we like it and continue to use it. I have been frustrated with it lately, though, and that is the main reason we are behind. I find myself saying (accidentally out loud) "Uh...that's stupid."

You see, there are some grammar rules that are hard and fast grammar rules. They are universal. A noun is a noun, a verb is a verb. This program has a few rules that are there for organizational reasons and they are actually not very helpful. So after trying to get Silje to understand what they were saying I have started to tell her to skip those parts. That has opened up a whole can of worms because now she has started asking a little too much: "Do I have to do this part? Can I skip this part?" So I'm trying to be clear.

We're moving into multiplication in math which she was very intimidated by, but was pleasantly surprised she has no trouble understanding.

Choir has started, piano lessons have resumed, and homeschool group starts next Tuesday. Knut is teaching gym this month and so I'm anxious to see what he comes up with. I don't at all feel caught up yet personally from our break, but doing school each day has been a welcome routine...even if the suitcases are still out.

Laundry

2012-01-12T07:00:00.010-06:00

You may remember awhile back (7 months to be precise) I wrote about how I was going to try making my own laundry detergent. Well, I made it 7 months ago, but I've only been using it for 6 months as I was using up other detergents I had in the house.

I thought I'd write a bit on how that went. First, my clothes were noticeably brighter with the first wash. It actually made me blink with shock. Second, my diapers instantly started not working as well. They came out soft and clean, but I started getting leaking and smelling issues.

I looked a bit online and saw that others had some issues with this as well, and some did not. The general consensus is that the Fels Naptha is the evil ingredient "clogging" my diapers so they didn't work so well. I read (although I did not confirm) that is because it is petroleum based, and petroleum clogs diapers.

I first fixed my diapers by boiling them to strip them, and then for regular laundering, I tried to counteract the residue that the Fels Naptha in my detergent left by adding a "glug" of vinegar to the fabric softener section of my washer. This fixed the problem and I haven't had an issue since.

Still, it was annoying to have to add the vinegar to every load, as that is something I had only done occasionally in the past, as vinegar is great for making diapers or washcloths work better and is really the only fabric softener that I use.

I talked with my friend Melissa who also makes her own detergent and also cloth diapers. She pointed me in the direction of substituting Goat Milk Laundry Soap for the Fels Naptha in my recipe. She said it made an enormous difference in her detergent and is not petroleum based and does not leave any residue.

So I ordered some of the laundry bar soap, and just this week I whipped up another double batch that will easily see our family through until this summer sometime. I've modified the recipe I used and changed pints/quarts for cups because I measure pretty much everything in cups. My own instructions based off of my own experience are included:

This is for a single batch for a 2 gallon bucket. I double this and fill a 5 gallon bucket and not fill it to the top.

6 cups of water (the more I think about this, you wouldn't have to use 6 cups when doubling. It made my pot too full.)
1/3 bar (2/3 cup grated) of Goat Milk Soap
1/2 cup of washing soda (NOT to be confused with baking soda)
1/2 cup of Borax
4 cups of hot water
Lots more hot water

Grate up the Goat Milk Soap (it grates beautifully) and put with the 6 cups of water in your pot and heat on the stove until boiling. Add the soda and Borax and stir until it seems completely dissolved.

(Note: if you are like me and you are using an OPEN box of washing soda left over from the previous detergent batch and you happen to have stored it in a humid room or climate, it may have solidified into a big block and need to be chipped to get it out. If this happens and you pick something like metal tongs to help you chip, be sure to chip away from your face. If you chip while you're looking in the box, the powder can easily fly up into your eyes. If this happens you'll likely have to run to the sink and run cold water over your eyes. While you enjoy that simultaneous feeling of burning eyes and freezing water, you may remember that you have a little eye wash in the first aid drawer upstairs.

Note: if you do run upstairs to get the eye wash, be sure to turn the stove off first. If you do not, the soap boiling on the stove could easily boil over all over your theoretical glass top stove. When the stove top has cooled and you are cleaning up this mess, the cooled soap mixture looks like long strings of clear snot and it's pretty gross. So don't do that. Just sayin'.)

Pour the 4 cups of hot water in your bucket. Then add the mixture in your pot into the bucket. Then bring the bucket to the sink and fill it with hot water. Cover and let it sit for 24 hours before using it.

Use 1/2 cup per wash. It will look gloppy. It will work great. I use a front loader HE and love it. If I had a top loader I'd probably use some dry powdered mix recipe online as those are even more simple. My washer isn't a fan of the dry detergent, though.

Here is an update on laundry cost comparison:

Previous cost of store bought detergent. Cost per month: about $12 worth x 6 months= $72. (roughly)

First double batch of homemade detergent...lasted 6 months=
1 Fels Naptha bar soap: $.97
1 box of washing soda: $2.77
1 box of borax: $2.98
Total: $6.72

Second batch of homemade detergent=
1 bar of Goat Milk Soap: $7.50
soda left from previous batch: free
borax left from previous batch: free
Total: $7.50

(I still have enough soda and borax for about 2 more double batches...at least.)

Savings for 20 minutes of work every 6 months: approximately $65. (Well, it may be an hour's work if you didn't follow my instructions and have to spend time washing out your eyes and cleaning your stove. Learn from me, people, or it's all in vain.) Notice that the Goat Milk laundry soap is more expensive than the Fels Naptha. However with the money that I'm saving, I think it's worth the luxury.

Next math problem is how much chocolate can I buy with the money I saved...

Yarn Along

2012-01-10T23:14:00.002-06:00

It's Wednesday, and that means knitting and reading with Ginny. This week I finished, or almost finished a few projects for myself. I finished a hat that I've been aching to make since I saw the pattern over a year ago. I started on New Year's Eve at my parents house and sadly ran out of yarn while I was there. I was certain that there would be enough of the red leftover from another project, but sadly I had to go back to the yarn store and buy yet another skein. Really it's not all that sad.

I made great progress with my hopsalot slippers. I wanted to get the felting done at my mom's just in case I had to use her washer as mine is a front loader. The pattern says to hand felt it, and various project notes said that they threw them in the machine and they ended up felting way too small. I ended up throwing them in the washer not once, not twice, but three times before I felt they were felted to the right size.

They are supposed to be bunny slippers, and I just need to get the ears and face done. It's starting to dawn on me that I will have to take them off in order for that to happen and I've been literally living in these since they have gotten done thus far. They are without a doubt the most comfortable slippers I have ever worn and I will probably make them 2 pairs at a time in the future when these ones wear out.

There are a few other projects that I finished for Christmas and haven't had a chance to share about them yet. Solveig just woke up, though. So it might have to be another day.

Real quick, my reading didn't make it into the picture, but I've been reading through Streams in the Desert again, and it is all new to me all over again. This is my 3rd time through this devotional and it speaks to me just as much this time as it did previously. This might just be my favorite all time devotional. So well done.

It's All Okay

2012-01-10T09:38:00.000-06:00

I seem to always find myself prepping the family for the next season. For instance, when we went down to Arizona for Christmas, it involved an awful lot of preparation on my part. From getting the house clean, and picking out clothes for everyone to bring down, planning out how the road trip would go and distractions to have for the kids when they were tired of sitting in the car.

My mind is always reeling for how our family will handle the next thing on our plate. In this season where we're still recovering from the holiday season, I'm keenly aware that the ski season is (sort of) upon us.

I say sort of because we have no snow, and none in the forecast either. This concerns me because Knut is supposed to be training for his Birkie race in Wisconsin right now. It's a little tricky to train without snow. There are things to do, but they are not nearly as exciting to do as ski.

With the trying to find ways for Knut to have time to train, the question of Solveig has still been weighing on me. The plan is to have her weaned and stay home with the other kids while Knut and I travel up to Wisconsin for the big race for the weekend.

I've weaned kids before, and I haven't ever had much trouble with it. It's not just the nursing that's on my mind. Solveig has been waking up at night now for months. She just got 2 new molars and during that time she woke up about 3 times a night, and that was when she had Tylenol even. Now that those teeth are in, she's reduced that to waking up once a night just for the snuggle factor.

Here's the thing. I don't mind getting up with her. Getting up at night used to be such a big deal for me. I need my sleep. However, getting up with her at night has just become a routine. Sometimes I take her back to bed with me, but since I don't sleep well that way, I've started enforcing the "go back to bed" system I did with the other kids. They're allowed to come back to my bed after 4am, and then after a few weeks, after 5 am, and then after a few more weeks, 6am.

Solveig is at the 5am point. Anytime after 5am she can snuggle with me in bed. Anytime before I sit up in a chair and nurse her and then lay her back in her own bed.

In all reality, breastfeeding is the ONLY thing she wants at that time of night. Believe me, I've tried other things but that is the quick fix. She's 13 months old now, and I've never nursed a baby this long. I was planning on being done, and I've only begun the weaning battle.

That's the thing. I see it as a battle right now because she's fighting me on it. I have a plan to make this trip to the Birkie with Knut and Solveig is clinging to breastfeeding with all her might.

The "bad" thing is I don't mind. I don't mind still breastfeeding her. When you have big kids swarming all around you, it's nice to have a quiet moment with the littlest one. I don't mind getting up with her at night. The house is so still and her snuggles touch my heart and renew me for the next day.

I've begun to wonder if this is a battle that is worth fighting.

There are some battles that I will always fight with my kids. I've learned that my 'yes' must be 'yes' and my 'no' must be 'no'. That means if I say clean your room, I will fight them to clean it. That means if it is a matter of obedience, I will fight for them to understand that we are looking out for their best and our words may be trusted.

Obedience is important to me. Trust is important too. In my mind, those meet an essential need with my kids for consistency in their life and knowing what to expect. If I say "do this" and they can whine and I say "never mind" they know that my words are easily swayed.

I don't mean tyrannical rule. I get down to their level and try to hear their heart in the best way they can manage to communicate it with their words. We talk about the "why" we do things. But there are only 2 adults making decisions in this house.

There are some parenting fights that are important to me because of my personal preference and have nothing to do with "moral parenting" as I see it. For instance, I'm a bedtime nazi (as Knut calls me). Bedtime is at 8 and that means that at 8pm I am walking downstairs with everyone tucked quietly in their bed.

I'm also a stickler on table manners. We do lots of pleases and thank yous and taking your plate to the counter when you're done. Cups go in a certain spot, and so do forks. When at all possible at big group events, we let the elderly go through first unless the group insists upon the kids going first. We wait to be served, and we say thank you and not complain even if it's not your favorite.

I know some very godly families that have no bedtimes for their kids and just snuggle with them all night. That is just fine and nothing wrong with that.
What I mean to say is that I pick battles with my kids based on 2 criteria: it is morally right, and it is my personal preference (aka need for sanity).

As I was considering my preparation for the Birkie trip and Solveig's eating/sleeping issue I considered whether or not it was something that should be done, or something that I want done.

I then realized it didn't fit into either category. It's not more moral to wean her, and I plain don't want to. At that point, my only concern was what Knut would think of it, as it effects him too.

The more I thought about it, the more I tried to figure out some alternatives. Should I stay home from the trip this year? It's really not a big couple weekend. It's Knut stressing over how to wax his skis the night before, and then debating which layers to wear for the race that will allow him to be warm without being too warm. After the race he's thrilled but exhausted. My only purpose there is moral support and his aunt and uncle (who we stay with) could easily support him in that way.

I knew he needed me at the finish line, though. I thought of him at the finish line last year on how he needed to lean on me to get to the soup tent and was literally shaking all over with frostbite on his nose and snowy frost extending his goatee by 3 inches.

I couldn't get past that finish line problem. He needed me there for that part, there was no doubt.

So that left two options: force Solveig to wean and hope that will solve her sleep issues as well. Perhaps let her cry more, even though that wakes the other kids and makes for a generally crabby household all around. Or I could bring her with. She's more mobile now, and this is supposed to be our kid-free weekend. She came last year because she was only a tiny baby and made no fuss anyway.

So tentatively I asked Knut last night if it would be okay if we brought Solveig along. Not only do I feel like the buck stops with him when it comes to parenting decisions as I see him as the head of our house, but I feel like in general it is both of our jobs to keep the other one from making stupid decisions. He casually looked up and said "weaning not going so well?"

"Well, no. But it's not just that. She's getting up at night and I don't think it's fair to ask your parents to get up with her that often. I don't mind doing it, but I feel uncomfortable leaving her when she hasn't slept through the night in a few months. I've tried cutting out a feeding with her, but whenever I cut one out during the day, she adds two more back in at night. I've tried shortening the feedings, as worked well with David. She won't have it and screams in hysteria if I take her latch off too early and then she won't be soothed. I mean, if we decide I need to do it, I can. It will be a lot of tired arms and a lot of screaming and a lot of lack of sleep for a few weeks, but we can do it. I just am really wondering if it's worth the fight at this point."

Without skipping a beat he said "Sounds good to me."

"You mean you don't mind me bringing her along?"

"It sounds logical to me. Solveig is so easy to please. She's not a tough baby and asks for so little. It seems silly to take away the one thing she asks for when it makes the whole family run more smoothly and you don't mind."

You see, it would be an issue if what she wanted was bad for her, or bad for me, or bad for someone else in our family. The fact that no one minds makes it silly to turn it into a battle.

So that decided that. She may still wean before the trip and be able to stay. She may start sleeping better now that her molars are in and our family isn't running places as much, at least for a little while.

But it's okay if things stay as they are right now. It's okay with him. It's okay with me. It's okay with her.

And that just washes the stress right off me about the whole thing. It's all okay.

Family Pictures

2012-01-09T14:37:00.000-06:00

This year before Christmas, Knut and I had the honor of our friend Sara to come out and take pictures of our family. The last time we had professional pictures taken of us, we only had 2 kids and it was done for $9.99 with a coupon at JC Penny and Silje is the only one who looks cute. I thought I'd have her take some of each of the kids and save me a trip to get their yearly pictures done too.

We were planning on doing most of them outside, but due to my late-in-the-year-planning, and a strong South wind in our yard that morning, that was just not possible. The wind would have blown us down, so we headed over to Knut's parent's house which boasted great lighting.

In addition to our bit of venue change, the kids weren't exactly at their best that day. It wasn't that they were all being bad, it's that they were taking turns being naughty and I was beginning to believe that we'd never get one of us all together that was anywhere near halfway decent.

We did our best and she said she would send us the pictures in the mail within 2 weeks. The package arrived right on time, but since we left for Arizona a day early, we just missed seeing them. So Knut's parents (who were looking after our house) sent the package down after us in Arizona so we could share them with our family down there.

Ironically enough, the package arrived in Arizona the day after we left to go home.

So after my mom got to go through them and pick out the ones she wanted, she sent them back up to me, and I finally get to share them with you. Sara got so many more great pictures that day than I ever thought possible. With Silje over-posing, David biting his lip and limping through each picture, Elias giving his whiny face, and Solveig...well every picture of Solveig turned out. She was just delighted over the whole thing that day. Anyway, it turned out great.

I got a little note from Sara saying she'd like to give us a complimentary reign check on our outdoor farm pictures this Spring since we didn't get to get many outside ones. Sweet!!!

At some point we stopped trying to get the perfect picture and Sara came up with this one, which just might be my favorite.

Well, we did try to get a handful by going to the North side of our woods where the wind wasn't so bad, but the kids were pretty done then. Really done.

This is just a taste of the pictures. Oooo, this is going to be a fun naptime today going through them all.

I'm Blessed

2012-01-09T08:18:00.000-06:00

I'll get back into routine soon here, and perhaps get this post out on time in future weeks. We were gone (again) for the weekend having Christmas celebration #5 of the year. I enjoy Christmas so much, but the years where we have to celebrate it 5 times kind of suck the joy out of it for me. It becomes a whirlwind of stuff that makes my life tough for a good month.

When we were at my parent's house, my mom and I talked long about this one night. So many things as a mother are hard but good. They are so worth it, but they are just so hard.

Anyway, we're back now. I have to unpack once again. Do some laundry, again. I have to do some more shopping for food and run a bunch of errands to catch up, again. I'm seriously behind on some of my business things and I just won't get to them until later this week because essentials like making food for my family somehow take center stage.

I know this sounds like I'm just complaining a lot so I'll try to turn it around a bit.

-Solveig is sleeping so much better. She's allowing me some good chunks of time now and is so much more herself during the day. I think her teeth aren't bothering her nearly as much and she's starting to pass the "I just learned to walk" sleeping strike.

-Our kids travel so well. Seriously they have been out of routine for so long and have done so well in spite of that. We've spent so much quality time together and have had so few meltdowns that it has been really a joy.

-We got to go visit our old church yesterday from when we used to live in the big city. I had no idea that there were still so many people there who remember and love us. We left there when David was 6 months old and Silje was nearly 2. Everything from the sermon, the music, the fellowship just spoke to my soul and felt so sweet. Leaving that church was the biggest (and really only) downside to moving out to the farm. It's been over 5 years and we still miss them.

-The kids asked this morning at breakfast if we can do some school. They miss it. That just says so much to me that a homeschooling mother really needs to hear from her kids sometimes.

-Our old van made it through all the trips. At 190,000 miles, and in the shop with problems less than a week before our drive down to Phoenix, I was worried if it would make it all the way. That old sweet van, though, has never failed us.

-There's a church in town that lets moms like me drop off our kids (ages preschool on down) for the morning so we can do whatever we like. So I get to (free of charge) drop of Elias and Solveig for some really and take just the older 2 with me into town. We'll probably stop by the library, get some groceries, and other errands. I like to think of it as "quiet errand day." Silje and David are actually quite helpful to have along now. That should probably have it's own point.

-Silje and David are actually quite helpful.

-Over the last few weeks bouncing our family all over the place, Knut and I have had so many times where we make each other laugh so hard we cry. We had some really fun times.

Well, here's the linky for joining the I'm Blessed party. Simply write your own blog post, (including a link to this blog in your post) and then leave the link to your blog post just here below so that others may read it. If you don't have a blog, you can always just leave a comment to say how God has blessed you.

My Life

2012-01-06T10:59:00.000-06:00

Pardon the Phoenix pictures at the top of the post. They had such good memories shown that I just had to squish them in somewhere. Papa (my step-dad) taught David and Silje how to play chess and they (especially David) became obsessed while we where there.

Solveig is now walking more than crawling...a switch that took place while we were down there, much to my mom's delight.

My grandpa and Solveig. He and Grandma came by the night before we left to see us one more time. This time he didn't recognize me, but he loved me just the same, which is so true to his nature. While we snuggled on the couch, I told him "You know what I'm never going to forget Grandpa? I'm never going to forget those weekends when I was in jr. high and we would come up to your little ranch in Dewey every weekend so you could teach me confirmation. I'll never forget you teaching me about God's Word those many hours."

He smiled squeezed me tighter. "I bet I would have liked that."

Onto homelife...

I woke up to a messy kitchen this morning. So I worked on those as David helped me put a batch of bread out to rise.

I'm still wearing my bathrobe.

There is Tupperware scattered all across my dirty kitchen floor. It's the sure sign there is a mobile baby in the house.

I have still not unpacked our suitcases.

In fact, there are several containers full of stuff from our trip in various rooms on the house.

The car is still a mess.

We did school yesterday and got a lot done. The evidence of that is still on the dining room table.

Solveig is sleeping now for her morning nap, and actually only got up twice last night. We're in the "I just learned how to walk so I'm going to wake up every 2 hours at night again" phase that each of my kids have gone through. Good thing she's so darn cute...

I'm thinking about doing a book purge and going through all of our bookshelves and getting rid of the books that we never read and never will read, or ones that are torn to shreds.

The kids are being great this morning. They're playing so well. Knut made me coffee and let me sleep in since I get up with Solveig at night. He is a good man.

I got a little chicken basket for the kids to gather eggs with. I've been getting nervous about them running in the house from the coop with 5-6 eggs in their hands. I got it at this cute little antique store in town (next to where the kids' choir practice is) and have shamefully had my eye on it for a few months. The lady who owns the shop basically said "finally!" when I got it.

I can't believe how much I like cooking again. It's nice to get a break, because I didn't realize how much I really enjoy it. I'm happy to be back on our farm, with our chickens. Lena is crazy exhausted from staying at my friend's house with the dairy farm. She looks way more in shape than when we left her.

Life will slowly catch up. I'm sure of it. I'm in no rush, though.

New Things

2012-01-05T08:55:00.000-06:00

This year I didn't even remember that people make New Year's Resolutions until New Years Eve. Someone asked me if I made any resolutions, and I thought to myself "What do I want to do next year." I've always thought of resolutions as fun way to set new goals for myself, though I have never even kept track of whether or not these goals made it the whole year.

This year I have 2 resolutions, or more like 2 "ideas of things I think would be cool to do this year."

#1 work out once a week. You may laugh, but this is the very first year that I've made any resolution in regards to weight/health. I've always been a small person and have always struggled with keeping weight on. However, ever since I turned 30 I seem to have acquired something of a gut that I find myself sucking in a bit too much in public. I used to work out all the time. Lately, though, I figure caring for my 4 kids is my workout.

It's more than the gut, though. I don't need to lose weight, and in fact I could stand to gain at least 10 lbs. I just feel like I want to get strong, and want to not be so achy all the time, and work up a good sweat every once in awhile. I don't like working out, but I like having worked out, and I want to chase some good endorphins this year. So once a week is my mild goal. I don't think my brain can wrap around much more than that.

I told Knut my resolution, and he said I needed some new running shoes. He says my other running shoes are shameful and always have been. I told him they were not shameful when I bought them (as a junior in high school....ahem.) So when we were down in Phoenix I got a good deal on some new shoes.

#2 This may seem to counteract #1, but I want to enjoy cooking more, and feel more creative and less chore-like in that department. So this year my goal is to try a new recipe that I've never tried before once a week. It doesn't have to be a whole meal, but it can't just be a new variation of bread. I'm thinking a new main dish or a new side. I do try new recipes fairly often, but this will help make sure that I'm broadening my horizons on a consistent basis.

One change to my normal resolutions, is I normally set goals for my business or for learning new knitting skills. Last year keeping up with those goals kind of consumed me at times, so this year my goal is to not stress out about knitting or my store. I have no doubt I will still work on my patterns or knitting a little every day, but I no longer feel that a resolution is needed to step anything up. I feel that it is as stepped up as I feel comfortable and anymore would take over other things that I should be doing.

What are your resolutions this year?

Home Again, Home Again

2012-01-04T09:56:00.000-06:00

Whew! We made it back home. If anyone wonders how in the world you travel with 4 kids cross country here are 3 quick tips:
Night driving has less stops. Depending on the ages of our kids this has worked really well for us. The driver listens to books on tape, rotating drivers every 3 hours or so.

DVD players. Sure, we didn't have them as kids, but we didn't have carseats either. However, we've learned that movies have to be limited to 1 DVD to every 3 hours of awake time (aka 1 movie between stops) otherwise the DVD somehow loses its power to silence the van.

Glow sticks. Seriously, I don't know why I never thought of it before, but glow sticks from the dollar store saved our sanity on multiple occasions.

I'm so glad that we actually got the house clean before we left. I'm so very tired as Knut is still sleeping and the kids are now awake. I have so much to do, blogging shouldn't be at the top of my list. However, when one is sleepy and tired and sore, blogging while sipping coffee seems to fit the bill.

I need to pick up Lena, drop off my cowl at the yarn shop for display for their upcoming class on it. I need to get some groceries as our fridge is empty, and it would be good to start a batch of bread. Knut's sister delivered a sweet little boy while we were traveling, so it might be good to stop and see our new little nephew as well.

Knut is sleeping now, but as soon as he wakes up I plan to replace him as the parent napping today. A nap is on the top of my list. We'll empty the van today but I don't intend to battle with the suitcases until tomorrow. In fact, I was thinking about having Silje unpack the suitcases, as I bet she can do it. Then I'll deal with the dozens of other little bags and toys that seem to fall out of our van right now whenever any door is opened.

Solveig didn't go down for nap this morning, little stinker. At least she's happy and playing nicely.

I'm waiting for a good wood fire to warm up this house as the traditional furnace isn't cutting it for me. I don't intend to fill the wood box, and am patiently waiting for Knut to wake up and do it. I should say hi to the chickens sometime this morning too.

I've been sitting here with the kids this morning, reading Christmas letters to them that have piled up here, and showing them pictures of people they know, and some they don't know. My Christmas letter will be late this year. Obviously.

It was fun to go. It's so good to be home.

Schooling on Vacation

2011-12-30T07:49:00.001-06:00

We get asked a lot if we take normal breaks at Christmas time. The longer we've been educating our kids, the more difficult I find that question. The question seems to assume that school for us is always sitting and reading books, or doing worksheets with me at some writing board and all. Visions of school desks found at garage sales run through my mind as my students "work hard" at their learning.

Our school just isn't like that. We do some sitting work at the dining room table, but not every day. Most days, but not every day. We read everyday whether or not we are on vacation. I would imagine that many families are like that. We read school books on vacation. Does that mean we're "doing school?"

There was an afternoon a few days ago when Silje and David were just silly and (frankly annoying) as they were overwhelmed with new fun things down here every single day. They needed a little forced "down time" so we brought out the math workbooks and had them each do a math sheet. It was a bit of "normal" for them in the overstimulating environment of vacation and it did the trick. They were much more themselves after that.

Our chosen curricula is sometimes multiple grade levels ahead of their peers so if we're "behind" of the set schedule it doesn't bother me. Sometimes we're ahead, sometimes we're behind of the prescribed schedule. It's been really hard for me to realize that if we're learning every day, then we're doing what we're supposed to be doing.

So if you ask me if we're learning everyday while on vacation, I'd say YES! So on our learning adventure this week the big highlight was our "school" field trip to the Grand Canyon. Our principal (Knut) declared the field trip and so our little class along with 2 added chaperones (Grammy and Papa) headed out. It was our family's first time there. Knut and I had last visited it when we were Silje and David's age. (Although we didn't visit it together. We had no idea who each other were at that time.)

It was fun to hear the variety of languages there, and see license plates from as far away as Alaska. I think anyone who has ever been there would agree that there are no pictures that can capture this sight. We just saw a little tip of it on the South rim, but it was still a sight to behold.

The weather was ideal (60 degrees or so) and Silje and David did so well. David was a little nervous that he would fall in, so he was pretty cautious the whole time. Silje was adventurous and really wanted to hike down to the bottom. Unfortunately we didn't have time for that.

The tough part of the day was that Elias did not enjoy a single second. His grating whine was in full force and he was just having a tough time handling himself the whole way.

There's a reason Knut and I sort of wish that our kids would skip over the age of 3 and go straight to 4. I know that sounds bad, but all of our kids thus far have had a tough time with that age, and grow out of it by 4. We finally got to a little shop and found a place for him to just sit and decompress.

So Knut took the older 2 and saw a bit more of the canyon as my mom and I took the little ones to more indoor places.

I ended up getting a school book for next year. Next year we'll begin studying early American history, and I found a book put out by the council for Indian Education talking about the nation's move to their designated reservation and adapting to their new environment and new way of life. It's called Navajo Long Walk and is from the perspective of a little boy. I'm hoping it will be a good supplement for next year.

On a side note, I find it so interesting that down here, Indians call themselves Indians. You see it all over signs for their shops and different places. In the midwest where we live, saying "Indian" is wrong and you're supposed to say "Native American." I have yet to see any term of that sort down here and wonder if the tolerance and need for political correctness varies from Indian/Native American nation to nation. Sorry...just some random observations.

On another side note, on our trip down here to Arizona we stopped at a little Indian shop because one of the kids thought they were going to throw up from car sickness and we all needed to stretch our legs. We stopped and Silje found a map poster in the shop of Indian nations and their original location all across the United States. It's a fascinating map, so for $4 we got that also to supplement our school year coming up.

Now back to our field trip.

Knut got a trail guide book there to study for the next few years as he plans a big trip to the bottom. No one in my family seems interested in going with him, but Silje really wants to. It would be a big overnight adventure, so maybe when they're a tad older, and the trip is mapped out. Half the fun is anticipation anyway, right?

Here's our dreamy principal. There was no way he could get me to pose over the cliff like that. I stayed nice and firm on the paved sidewalk thank-you-very-much.

Picture Round Up

2011-12-29T00:01:00.000-06:00

Vacation pictures seem to pile up pretty quick.

We're keeping busy, that's for sure.

My sister's twin girls have gotten so big since last year. There were very few pictures that I actually caught them in together as they seem to always be running in opposite directions.

On Christmas Eve day it's become a new tradition to go Frisbee golfing. I caught an action shot of Knut, playing and still wearing Solveig on his back.

Silje is looking more and more grown up as I see her with her younger cousins.

Let's not forget my nephew, who is a pretty cool 4 year old!

We're realizing Solveig really knows how to work a crowd and get everyone doing her bidding with very little effort. We'll have to keep an eye on that. (Psst...isn't my sister gorgeous?)

The cousin picture didn't work out so well this year, but I'm still looking through all the shots and trying to figure out a way to make it work. They're a squirrely bunch.

The boys are having fun with their new toys. I did finish Silje's homemade present finally, and she loved it so so much. I'll have to post pictures of her gift soon since it was handmade.

On Christmas day we were gathered with extended family at my aunt's. One of my cousins who is now in college was there. He's half Japanese and half American and now lives in the states going to school, but his parents are now back in Tokyo. He was handing out treats from Japan (just like I remember getting from my uncle as a child).

Elias was having the hardest time understanding that some of the candy had edible wrappers made of rice paper (which is basically taste-less) and the wrappers just wouldn't come off. No matter how my cousin Josh tried to explain that you just eat it with the wrapper on, Elias felt he knew better and spent a good deal of time trying to get the wrapper off, without success.

Josh got such a kick out of this, and Elias got such a kick watching Josh pop candy in his mouth with the wrapper on over and over in an attempt to show him that it was in fact, okay.

In the end, Josh won him over.

I've never experienced the technology we had going on in that house Christmas Day. My uncle in Tennessee Skyped in, and then so did my cousin in China, aunt and uncle in Japan, as well as a phone call from another uncle in China. We had all these iPads and laptops open in the middle of the coffee table as we sang Christmas carols. It felt so oddly science-fiction to have us all together like that.

We've also squeezed in some cousin bowling, girls night out for coffee, and a mini-road trip (within our road trip). I've been trying to take pictures, and still be disciplined to leave the camera at home and just live a bit. I'm at that part of vacation that I'm in overload of things to blog about and no time at all to share it all. What normally ends up happening is I go home, pass out from exhaustion from the relaxation that being a mother on vacation always brings, and just move on. I end up skipping all those lovely little details without record. And you know what? That's okay.

Yarn Along

2011-12-27T23:56:00.000-06:00

It's Wednesday, so that means I'm writing about knitting and reading along with Ginny. I'm on vacation this week and I ironically that does not mean a lot of knitting. I am happy to report that I'm finally able to knit without my arms hurting and I could not be more happy about that. I think my rest paid off.

I'm working on my first ever felted project. It's some slippers for me using the hopsalot pattern. I actually have some ideas for slipper patterns, but before I burn out from pattern writing, I was craving some no-brainer pattern for vacation that I could easily knit without any paper in front of me.

As for reading, I've being flipping through the high style magazines that my sister brought over to my mom's place. I'm really not in the fashion loop ever, but my sister is. She always looks gorgeous so I feel when I'm around her that I should step it up somehow so I don't look like the frumpy-farmer's-wife sister straight off the pasture. Ironically, I go past the make up tips and shoes and go straight to any ads or write ups on sweaters. I study the pictures and see what's in, and deconstruct each sweater in my head to figure out how it is made, or how I would "improve" it. I'm hopeless, really.

So that's the Yarn Along from my mother's kitchen. My parents just informed me it's time for me to go to bed. ;) Just when you think you're a grown up, married with 4 kids...

Christmas Blessings

2011-12-26T09:46:00.000-06:00

This Christmas, I was showered with blessings. As an adult, it seems that there aren't many presents for me under the tree anymore, but several sitting around it.

This Christmas, I feel especially blessed to see my grandma and grandpa. In their late 80s, they are still an amazing treasure to me.

Grandpa still read the Christmas story. He's had an up and down year health wise. It's all stable now. Some days it feels like we're losing him in bits and pieces instead of all at once. It saddens me to see how much he ages from year to year. He was much better than I had prepared myself for, though.

My grandma can't see much anymore, but she's still a treasure as well. It's so funny to me that I wasn't close to her much when I was a child, but as an adult we've formed this amazing connection. Grandpa was always the darling of the kids, and we all knew that anyone who hung out with Grandma ended up doing chores. As an adult, I treasure the skills she has given me, and her deep desire to bless others. It's so hard that our visits are limited to once a year because a year brings so many changes at their age. I'm so blessed to have them, though. They are my Christmas present.

If you'd like to share your blessings too, it is always fun to share. Leave a comment with your Christmas blessings, or a link to your blog post following the I'm Blessed guidelines. It's a fun little party.

Cross Country Eggs

2011-12-23T09:33:00.000-06:00

We just arrived in Arizona from our cross country road trip to visit my family for Christmas. We couldn't leave our 3 full cartons of eggs behind, so they came with us, and Knut and my Papa enjoyed some country egg omelets this morning.

The kids did fabulous during the trip. In fact, I don't remember them ever doing so well. We modified our trip heavily this year. We took a different route down to avoid some snowstorms. We drove at different times and for longer amounts for a variety of factors, and lastly, we left later in the morning than we normally do. Normally we get the kids up super early to get a really early start (as in 6am or so). This year we let everyone wake up when they normally do, had a great breakfast and started off. It was amazing the difference in the kids. They were just so good the whole way.

We saw more snow in crossing New Mexico than we have seen at home all winter. Driving through Flagstaff, AZ was a bit painful for Knut as the conditions were perfect for some skiing, and we were just 2 hours from our destination. It was a beautiful trip.

We got here a day earlier than planned because we just kept driving instead of normally stopping half way for the night. We could have stopped, but things were just going so well and we were all feeling so good so we decided to just keep going. We've never done that before and I must say it did feel a bit wild and crazy to just keep going. That's pretty much living on the edge when you have 4 kids.

Silje and Elias are our "carsick kids" so Silje knows now that she can't read in the car. It was so funny that as soon as we got here she ran with the urgency normally associated with having to go to the bathroom into the grandkid bedroom to the bookshelf, grabbed a book and read for about 2 hours. We had some books on tape in the car, but she was so reading deprived for those 2 days of travel that she needed that bit of sanity when we got here. It made me smile.

Today we'll visit with some family, perhaps go to the park, and I think we may stop by a bookstore for some last minute stocking stuffers for the kids. Knut always picks a book for each of the kids for Christmas, and writes a lengthy "yearly" letter to them in the front. I hope that will be something they'll look forward to each year.

The sun is beating down on my back right now, and I think it may be time for a walk to the park as soon as Solveig wakes up from her morning nap. Grammy and the older kids are reading a book on the couch, and Knut and Papa are discussing fishing boats over coffee. I think it will be a good day.

Teething

2011-12-22T07:00:00.003-06:00

I mentioned a few months back that I was going to try the "amber teething necklaces" and tell you what I thought...honestly. They seem to be all the rage these days. Just a review amber is fossilized tree sap. They're not magic fair teething stones invoking some mythical god. The idea is to wear the necklaces to get the benefit. The baby does not chomp on the necklace like a teething ring. It's nothing like a teething ring.

The amber warms to body temperature, and is somewhat absorbed in the skin. I've worn it a few times as a bracelet, and I'd have to say it's kinda comfortable. It's kinda gives you a cozy feeling.

I got the necklace with the magnetic closure so it could easily be yanked off because I'm paranoid like that. I also got one that was too long, and sort of regret that. I would have liked a shorter one because this one flops outside her clothes often and it doesn't work unless it's resting right against the skin so the amber qualities can be absorbed. She never wears it when she's sleeping, but I've found if she wears it for a few hours in the day, it makes the nights easier.

At first, I didn't notice any huge difference when Solveig wore it when she was teething. Mostly that's because I would put it on her when she got a dull fever, and it really didn't help with fevers. I talked with a friend of mine who said that amber can effect different babies different ways. For instance, for her child the amber stopped the drooling associated with teething.

So then I kept some notes. Honestly there it's really hard for me to notice ANYTHING without taking notes these days. For our little girl, here's her response to the teething necklace:

-she has to wear it at least an hour before we see any difference.
-her drooling stops completely.
-she stops chewing her fingers.
-she's less crabby...significantly.
-rashes around her mouth disappear.
-fevers are not affected. She still needs medicine for that.
-stuffy noses are not affected.

So even though it's not the miracle necklace that we had heard claim, we still use it because it has done some things. I often forget to use it, but remember as soon as I see her drooling again. From my notes, I have to assume it makes her feel better, although I would consider Tylenol stronger than this necklace. However, I LOVE not using medications when I don't have to. Plus, there are many scenarios where she is HAPPY and has no fever or any sign of pain and she's drooling like a river. I'll stick the necklace on her, and within an hour, we can remove her bib and see her pretty little outfit. I wouldn't normally give Tylenol for a situation like that anyway.

I'd say this necklace is a useful tool in a mother's bag of tricks. It's not very strong or powerful, but sometimes that's exactly what is needed.

Snow

2011-12-20T07:00:00.003-06:00

We got a trace of snow the other day. Sure enough by the time I get around to looking at the pictures I took, the snow is already gone. We have some very depressed skiers in our house.

The boys spent their few blissful moments in the snow breaking in their new snow shovels just their size. The quickly cleared the deck and cement portion of the driveway which was a pleasant surprise for Knut. These boys are getting to a very helpful age.

Lena was just happy that Silje was actually playing fetch with her outside. Our dog is getting a bit flabby, as Silje isn't as outdoors-y as Knut may wish. Some days I can't even bribe her to get outside. This day, however, she ran to play in the snow. I pushed school back to the afternoon and let them play all morning outside. It was good for everyone. Lena (and the kids) got some great exercise.

Elias had tons of fun too, although he found the slide to be a bit too fast for his taste in this weather. He's in desperate need of a new hat, although he doesn't mind this hand-me-down from Silje. I got him one at Target since then, and have about 6 patterns on stand by to knit with scrap yarn. Just one won't last the winter. This guy loses mittens and hats just by looking at them.

The snow is gone now, but no matter. I hear once we're in Phoenix, there's an outdoor mall that artificially sprays it in the air using a snow machine every Friday and Saturday night. It will be my kids first experience with "fake snow" and I can't wait. ;)

I'm Blessed

2011-12-19T08:14:00.000-06:00

Sorry I'm a little late posting this Monday "party." We're all still in a bit of recovery over here after last week's bout of sickness. Where once I was ahead, now I'm a bit behind.

It's Christmas this week. Can you believe that? Whew! It doesn't seem quite real.

As I'm overwhelmed with the number of things that need to happen before Christmas, I think it's good to for me to count my blessings.

It's hard this morning to do that without feeling so hypocritical. I just sent punished David for tormenting Elias. I've just scolded Silje for goofing off instead of doing her chores...again. Just before Knut went to work he told me not to take the van anywhere because it emptied all of the radiator fluid onto our garage floor as we slept last night...again. (This is the van that we just took to the mechanic to tune up before our 2 day road trip for Christmas and just got "it's good to go" for the long trip.) Since I woke up this morning I feel like I am fixing or correcting someone and I cannot act all cheery and "everything is fabulous" at our house this morning.

Some days, when my mind is sadly searching a bit, I'm sooooooo blessed by grace.

That is all this morning. I am so blessed for God's grace. It covers all. Everything. It's free. It's essential. It's beautiful.

It's all we need.

Thank you, Lord, for your grace. This morning, it is sufficient for me.

Don't forget to link up this blog to your own I'm blessed post if you're a blogger. If not, leave a comment saying how you have been blessed, and Merry Christmas!

Breakfast with My Babe

2011-12-16T07:37:00.000-06:00

Since being sick, I've been going to bed ridiculously early. The day we were sick I was in bed before 9. Last night I tucked myself in around 10 (which is early for me) but I don't think I fell asleep until after 11. I hate that. I could have been finishing the sewing for Silje's Christmas present.

This morning I feel good for the first time in a few days. My ribs don't feel bruised this morning, and my body doesn't ache. I got up with Solveig early and let Knut sleep in. It's normally the other way around.

The kids have made us very aware of how close Christmas is. It's a little overwhelming to think of all that needs to be done between now and then. Mostly Silje's present, and Christmas cookies that have barely been started. Then there's the catching up of laundry that happens after everyone is sick. Everyone needs clean sheets, towels were used to cover every surface that day, as well as many sets of clothes were soiled. Laundry after sickness is mountainous. Let's not even discuss the bathroom situation.

Preparation for Christmas always seems to be a mother's job, doesn't it? I don't despise it at all, I'm just thinking. I think perhaps that's the way it should be. After all, Christmas is preparation for a birth, isn't it? In a way we're nesting. We worry that some things are clean that no one else worries about. We want everything to be just right. It's like we share in Mary's nesting at Christmas. Christmas nesting.

My grandpa tells the story of when he was growing up on the farm. His mother would lock herself in their parlor every Christmas Eve day and they weren't allowed to peek. Every Christmas Eve night there was the big reveal where his mother (my great-grandmother) would open the parlor doors and let all the kids see the twinkling candles, the tree, the presents, the decorations hanging everywhere. In his reflection upon those days, it was purely magical.

It was his mother's job to decorate for Christmas. It was her gift to the family. My grandpa was the 7th of 8 children, and in their little farmhouse in North Dakota, he recalls looking through the cracks with his older brothers and sisters of the parlor doors at his mother's feet and trying to get a peek of the big reveal.

We've lost a few of my great-aunts and uncles this year. This is the first year that my grandpa and his little sister are the only ones remaining of his siblings. Auntie Ingeborg who was the oldest girl passed away. She was only a few months away from her 100th birthday and boy did she have some energy. Last time Knut and I visited her we had trouble keeping her pace. Uncle Si passed away too. He was much shorter than me (if that can be imagined). My first memory of Uncle Si was when he came to visit us in Colorado when I was a little girl and he offered me a Life Savers candy. I said sure, and as I reached for one little circle he shrugged at me and said, "why don't you take all of them? Keep the package so you can have one whenever you like." You would have thought he offered me a million dollars for the treasure I got that day. I still can't have a LifeSaver without thinking about Great-uncle Si.

I'm glad we get to go home and visit my family this year for Christmas. I want my kids to know their extended family like I got to know mine. My great aunts and uncles prayed for me every day...by name. It's sometimes very lonely to think of that generation fading away. I'm so blessed.

It's a snuggly, cozy morning here on the farm. It won't be light for quite some time. It's kind of fun to be up for the sunrise, which isn't too tough to do in the winter.

Whew!

2011-12-15T10:31:00.000-06:00

I'm writing this today as we recuperate. Yesterday was all kinds of awfulness. After I posted the Yarn Along, I went to bed. A few hours later I woke up and was terribly sick with the stomach flu that David had a few days ago. Things sort of went spiraling downhill as Solveig woke up wanting to eat in the early hours and I was too sick to even hold her. So Knut did his best to pacify her, but he kept bringing her to me saying that he wasn't feeling so great either.

Not too much after that he was sick as well. Elias woke up...I'm sorry, I can't write it down without make all of you throw up but let's just say he had been sick that night too, and was continuing to be sick. Silje and David helped out a bit with Solveig, until Silje got really sick too.

Worst day ever.

By evening, we were all able to split a piece of bread and sip on some water. None of us wanted any more. Knut and I prayed so hard that Solveig would sleep through the night, despite her not nursing during the day as much as she was used to. We gave her lots of fluids in a cup, but we figured in her mind it wasn't the same.

She slept straight through until 6:30 this morning so we all got some good sleep. Actually, Knut and I went to bed at the same time as the kids, so it was almost like getting 2 nights of sleep.

Today we rest. We're all sore and a bit edgy. To brighten up the day, I thought I'd post some pictures of Solveig's birthday party. It sounded like something cheery to do while I rest.

Traditionally for the 1st birthday, we throw a big party with lots of relatives. Making it a whole year with a baby seems like something to celebrate, even though she'll never know. We've thrown a big party for all of our kids 1st birthdays (except Elias. Shh!!! His 1st birthday was in the middle of a crazy harvest where we were there wasn't much sleep so we skipped it. Surprisingly, he still doesn't care.)

We invited the grandparents, great-grandparents, and the great-aunts and uncles who live in town.

It was a warm day, (over 50 degrees at our house!) so we got to use the porch, where all the men seemed to claim. This porch gets a lot of sun and heats up like an oven on days like this even though it's not insulated.

The birthday girl and Grandpa.

I wanted to do more with her cake, and make it more fun, but I've been feeling a bit burnt out lately. So I went for the "get it done" cake. It was yummy, so it all worked out.

Solveig sure seemed to enjoy her piece!

We also served some homemade wassail on the stove which was a big hit. My Grandma V. always makes that at Christmas time and just felt right for the party. I just found a recipe online that called for apple cider, pineapple juice, orange juice, cinnamon and ground cloves, with a touch of brown sugar. We heated it up on the stove and it was a yummy side to the cake.

Well that was fun. Time for another nap.

Yarn Along

2011-12-14T00:16:00.001-06:00

It's already Wednesday and time to talk about knitting and reading. It kinda crept up on me this week. As always, many thanks to Ginny for hosting this fun blog party each week.

I'm working on my sock yarn cardigan in bits in pieces only for sanity sake. I've probably only gotten an inch and a half done in the last week. Mostly I've been doing a bit of sewing in the crafting realm. I got some pillows recovered in the den (the fabric for that was only sitting in my stash for just a hair under a year!) and doll clothes for Silje's Christmas present.

My mind is on knitting, though. I figure if I can't be knitting, I can at least think about it. I'm still reading the essays in All Wound Up and I'm still laughing out loud. Knut still asks me what is so funny when he hears me laughing and he still doesn't get knitting jokes.

I'm also already thinking about another knitting project on the brain that I wanted to get done this winter. I'm working on a cardigan design with some fair isle elements and so I'm browsing this book: 200 Fair Isle Motifs. I already know the design in my head but I'm trying to wrap around how I'm going to do the arm shaping without compromising the colorwork design. I figure if I get it sorted out in my brain before it's on the needles it will save me a lot of time in the long run.

Just as a reminder, the giveaway I'm doing for the sewing book and yards of fabric will be open until Friday evening. Don't forget to enter! (But please still leave a comment here! It's such a highlight to "visit" with my knitting friends.)

Knut's Masterpiece

2011-12-13T09:27:00.002-06:00

I've been meaning to post pictures of this since it was finished last week. I've been so full of blogging material that I just have to find a day to fit it in.

This has been a 3 year process. You may remember, year 1 was the installation of the fireplace. Knut cut a big whole in the wall of our house just before the snow was going to fly. He and his dad built a chimney outside our house, and a wood box was installed next to it so wood could be available without dragging the mess through the house each day. Truly, he has thought of everything. (You can't see from the pictures, but he also installed an electrical outlet on top of the mantle so I could plug in Christmas lights without hanging cords, and even cut in a large "plate rail" on top for a decorating idea we had. More on that in a few days...

So for a year, we used our fireplace and it has been the main source of heat for our house since then. On the other side of the house we have a corn stove that is used often as well, and we have a tank in the back of the house that is used to keep the pipes from freezing when we're on vacation.

It was very industrial looking at first, and we spent many evenings debating over how to spruce it up the next year. I had my own ideas of what I wanted it to look like, and I soon realized that this project consumed his thoughts more than mine and he was determined in his own ideas.

The next year, Knut picked out stones from various piles around our fields. Doing the stonework himself, these stones that were in our living room for many weeks were placed layer by layer up on the fireplace. He would only do one layer a day so that the mortar could set before the weight of the next layer was installed. It was a tediously slow process.

He was planning on doing the mantle that same year, but he hit a bump in that plan. You see, he found these great posts in the barn that used to be the old porch posts to the house. So he cut them down to size to fit the fireplace. He measured and measured, started cutting the molding, and came up against a big problem. The posts that he wanted to put molding around were warped from being so old. They twisted ever so slightly. The angles were all askew.

So for the next year or so, whenever Knut was in the living room, he would sit and stare at the mantle. He read woodworking books to find different solutions to the problem and debated in his head what the best route would be. Can we say: perfectionist?

Really, fixing up a house is a journey and we have no rush to it. The number of things Knut learned in this project is inspiring. It was a really, really fun 3 year journey and we are so happy with the results.

Since we don't have snow yet this year, he's spent all his free time post-harvest and post-wood-pile-stacking working on the mantle. Finally one night, he had me help hold them up and fit the molding pieces tightly together. He even let me use the fancy compressed air nail gun from the shop a few times.

The next day he painted it to match the posts. Most of the woodwork in the house is stained, not painted. However, since the posts were so aged (and originally painted white) we agreed that staining wouldn't be the best route for them and we wanted the molding to match the posts.

The molding for the wood box came from scraps his dad left in the summer kitchen (aka shed by the driveway) when his parents did a remodel when Knut was little. They were also kind of beat up so they got a paint job as well. The inspiration for the molding for the fireplace came from the molding found in the antique doors to the 3 season porch.

So who is more excited that it's DONE!?!! I'm not sure. It's a pretty close tie over here. It's amazing that ever since we got the fireplace, a room that was virtually unused by us in this house is now the most used. The whole family is constantly in there. Knut and I are trying really hard to get the kids to start calling it "the parlor" instead of "the living room." So far, no luck. That won't stop Knut and I from calling it that, though!

I'm Blessed-Giveaway Day

2011-12-12T08:48:00.002-06:00

Normally on Monday's I host an "I'm Blessed" blog party, and this week is no different in that aspect. However, this week I'm also participating in the "Giveaway Day" with www.sewmamasew.com. I absolutely love the resources on their blog and have been a very satisfied customer of theirs on more than one occasion.

So without further ado, let's get to business.

Here's the giveaway that I'm offering up. This is only for you residents of the United States to keep shipping costs down. I'm giving away 5 yards of the designer fabric from Timeless Treasures called "Apple."

There is a yard of each fabric: brown swirls, brown owls, ivory owls, fun green vines, and multicolored apples. This fabric is unwashed and new. Along with these drool worthy fabrics, I'm including a brand new copy of Sewing Clothes Kids Love.

I'm giving this away because I have found it to be probably the most helpful sewing books I have ever, EVER bought. It had so much practical information in there that I just have to share. It has 10 full size patterns too, so it's not too shabby. Pictured here is my copy. You can't have that one. I'll be shipping you your own brand new copy straight from Amazon.

This contest will be a straight up drawing, and I'll pick the random winner directly from the comment section and close the comment section next Friday and announce the winner. So you have all week to get your comment in (but I recommend doing it as soon as you read this because if you're like me remembering to enter a contest online gets pretty low on the priority list.)

To enter: leave a comment about how you are blessed. It's so easy to focus on the troubles in this world, and it's so appropriate, especially in this season, to count our blessings. Please leave your email address or some means of contacting you so that if you win I can get it to you. I haven't done too many giveaways, but I will say I've had to draw again on more than one occasion because I had no way of contacting the winner. Don't let that happen to you!

For those of you who do blog, and want to participate in the "I'm Blessed" event this week, be sure to click here to figure out how to link up, and make sure it's a good fit for you and your blog. The event thanks God for our blessings, and I want to keep it for those who do thank God. So you do not get any extra credit or extra entries in the giveaway for participating in the blog carnival and "linking up." The giveaway drawing is strictly coming from the pool of comments, and no amount of following me or following God or having the illusion of following either will earn you a better chance at winning. However, I love meeting other believers online and read all the links every week because it is so uplifting. So feel free to link up if you like.

As for my blessings:

I'm blessed with my husband who makes me laugh sometimes until I cry.
I'm blessed with a relatively clean house after Solveig's big birthday party yesterday.
I'm blessed with kids who remember how to play after I've pulled the plug on the t.v. last week.
I'm blessed with Christmas music that just touches my soul.
I'm blessed with friends who understand my crafting obsession and don't judge.

To link up your blog with your (optional) I'm Blessed post, do that here, but be sure to read the directions/rules first here:

Little Solveig

2011-12-11T00:01:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday to our little Solveig Joy.

It's hard to remember a year ago, I would prop up your little head in my hand to burp you after a feeding. Your little head wobbled around so much. I promise I wasn't choking you.

Here you are in a picture I took in the middle of the night. This was our first evening together. You were just wonderful. You made the cutest little piggy sound during feedings. You also pressed up against me so intensely when you were nursing that your nose was always pushed up like a little piggy. It's all I could do but laugh through every feeding. Ahhh...the memories only mothers have and share with the world....

I have pictures of you with your sister too, but this one of you and your brothers caught my eye. You are their little sweetheart, especially Elias'. I don't think he believes you're capable of doing any wrong. He watches over you like a hawk. You still have him waiting on you hand and foot, and I'm curious to see if I can say the same next year. The nurses put you in Christmas outfits at the hospital. That's why you wear red in all of your hospital pictures!

I think I knit more things for you than any of the other kids combined. Your coming home from the hospital outfit here is probably one of my favorite finished projects of all time. You were just born at the right time because I didn't know how to knit when Silje and David were born, and Elias got all of my learning-to-knit pieces with lots of character. So I guess you are spoiled that way.

You somehow work your way into the heart of anyone you encounter. You were correctly named Solveig Joy because joy is the look on your face every day. Daddy and I researched that the name "Solveig" can be translated a few different ways as literally/roughly means: "Sun+house." Some say it means "woman of the house" or "strong house" but we have always preferred the translation: "Sunshine of the House." That describes you perfectly.

You might be crawling and into everything and determined to walk earlier than any of your brothers or sister. You may love to be held all the time and require constant supervision. However, most days you feel like an easy child because you're just so happy all the time and make us all relax and enjoy life a bit more. You just delight in everything around you and make every other person in this house smile whenever they have an encounter with you.

This time last year I told Daddy that I thought today was the day. Well, he had heard that before in the pregnancy, and this wasn't his first time around the block, being my labor coach and all. So he took the other kids to get a Christmas tree anyway and came back 2 hours later. When they got back Daddy sent your older brothers and sister inside for me to get them a snack and get hats and coats off while he got the tree ready to bring inside. I told Daddy things were too intense and I needed him inside to help with the kids. So he brought the tree with him inside and asked if I would hold it up while he screwed it to the base and examined if it was straight. No, I'm not sure I will ever let him forget that story. It's so funny to us now. I think every time we get a tree, I'll think back to the day you were born.

Even just a few hours before you were born, he moved at a snail's pace to arrange our departure to the hospital. I remember on the way there I wondered if you would be born in our van. I still remember the thought process going on in my brain on how that would work exactly and at what point I would have to be to make Knut pull over. The roads were icy, so I couldn't risk telling Daddy to hurry up again at that point.

You were born exactly 18 minutes after we got to the hospital. Daddy still didn't believe it was that close and leisurely let the nurses bring me up to the birthing suite as he left me to go park the van. When he finally made it up to the room, it was moments before you arrived. I'll never forget the look on your daddy's face. It was like he had seen a ghost when he realized all at once how near you were. Still, your birth was the only one of that I planned to be all natural and it was by far my easiest birth. There was no fear present at your birth as my mind was "in the zone" the whole time despite the chaos going on around us. (Your brother David was unplanned natural...which is a completely different thing!) Contractions with you were 10 minutes apart for 3 weeks. That was a bit frustrating. They only moved up to 8 minutes apart just over an hour before you were born. That's probably why your daddy was pokey in taking me anywhere.

Here's you yesterday, your last day "being zero" as David called it. Your eye still drains, and it looks we're going to have to take care of that. I see my lens was a bit dirty for the picture too. Good thing I have such a beautiful subject to make it all okay.

We love you so much. You are so beautiful, strong, and I love hearing your little voice. God has certainly blessed us as we get to be your parents. Happy Birthday.

We Learned...

2011-12-09T09:11:00.001-06:00

I'm stealing today's post from my friend Krisha who often uses that phrase on her blog. It's just a good roundup.

There's a few updates to our little school. Silje reads all the time. That may not be the biggest news flash, but our days have been especially productive lately. We started the tradition of reading out loud after bedtime with Silje. I've been wanting to do this for awhile. However our kids have been too antsy, and I've been very eager to have them in bed at night. For the last 2 weeks, though, after our family prayer time at night, the little ones get to bed, and Silje meets me down in the living room with her book ready.

It has been so much fun to share this quiet time with her. I'm actually surprised to hear myself say that because I normally guard my after-bedtime pretty carefully. Knut has always called me the "bedtime nazi" from the beginning. We've been getting so much good reading done during this time and all without being interrupted so we can really get lost in our book. Lately we've been reading Twenty-One Balloons. We'll probably finish it tonight.

I'm hoping that someday David asks to join our after-hours group with the condition that he'll actually sit with us. So far he's been just fine going to bed knowing that Silje gets to stay up longer.

I took the advice of another homeschooling mom and quit the Saxon math level K with David and moved straight onto 1st grade. I can't believe the difference in him regarding this subject. Not only is it totally his level where I don't have to help him write like I was thinking, but he wants to sit and do math pages, (one after the other) for close to 45 minutes some days.

David is continuing to read so much better. We're at the point that I'm pulling books off our shelf and not the traditional readers. He was shocked to learn he could work his way through The Cat In the Hat.

I've continue to veer off the spreadsheets that worked so well last year, and instead write daily in Silje's assignment notebook. She loves to have control over what subject she works on next and loves checking things off her list.

The major change this week is I finally go so fed up with our television that I disabled it. I mean, I took every chord away from it and every DVD player, and digital conversion box, and VHS player and put them in storage. It's not just a big thing in our playroom downstairs. It was becoming such a huge distraction. David and Elias would constantly interrupt school to ask if they could watch a show.

For awhile I would let them just so I could get the lesson done. Then I let them know that it was no longer okay and they were watching too much t.v. So they continued to ask, but louder. They wouldn't stop, so I would have to stop teaching and discipline them. Disciplining started to consume my whole day and that's not fun for anybody.

So I told the kids on Wednesday afternoon that it was going to be their last day with the t.v. When they woke up the next morning it wouldn't work no matter how much they tried. We got 3 requests for t.v. across all of them. Today we have gotten none. (Although Knut just showed them how to play games on the computer last weekend, so that is now the new request that I've had to turn down twice already.)

I've been so nervous to take the t.v. away from us completely but I got to a point where I felt I had no choice. It completely ruled my kids thoughts and they talked of nothing else. I know I have done this before, but this time I completely mixed things up so if I do want to reassemble it it will take me a good hour of time to reflect as I put it back together.

The kids have been using their new-found free time to build more forts. They've also run around doing some sort of spy game, and have started on some Christmas presents. They've learned quickly that if they come to me saying "I'm bored" I'm quick to put them to work. So I don't hear it.

I will admit I was a bit overwhelmed by the kids more underfoot than usual by the time Thursday was done. Fortunately, my friend Sheila invited me over for some Christmas sewing time at her house. I got a whole doll dress done for Silje.

It will be an adjustment, but my heels are dug in at this point. So take that, t.v.

Yarn Along

2011-12-06T23:00:00.001-06:00

This is my weekly-when-I-can post linking up with Ginny's famous Yarn Along. I love sharing about knitting and reading. It also serves as a reminder to do these things I love, and that's a plus!

This week I've really had a hard time backing off on the knitting so that my arms can rest a bit. I should say it's been mentally difficult to hold back and see if rest will help. It absolutely has. I'm finally to the point where I'm not sore anymore, but moving along with projects has been painstakingly slow. I want to be smart. I want to listen to my body.

However, there were times when I told Knut that I just wanted to steal away 10 minutes to knit for my own sanity, and that's all I could handle that day. Watching television after the kids are in bed is so strikingly boring when I can't knit. So I've taken up more reading and that's not a bad thing.

Tuesday night, after 10 minutes a day knitting (ugh!) I finally finished knitting the shorties for a friend of a friend. Now I just need to Kitchener stitch the crotch gusset, weave in the ends, and do a bit of hand embroidering on the bum. None of that causes me trouble, so I should finish that by the end of today, and bring it to town tomorrow.

I've been staring at my sock weight yarn cardi and I want so badly to start tackling that. I have so many limitations pressing down on me from my sore arms to Christmas baking right now that I'm not sure if I'll make my mark to finish it by Christmas which really bothers me.

Since I've turned off the telly and started reading more after the kids are in bed, I've been working my way through 2 books. All Wound Up is quick and fun. I was reading some essays from this book Monday night and had to stop several times to wipe away tears and catch my breath from laughing so hard. Her obituary of a knitting project gone wrong nearly did me in. Granted, I was reading it late at night and pretty much everything is hilarious late at night, as multiple youth group lock-ins prove all across the country. At any rate, I definitely plan on reading more from the Yarn Harlot in the future.

The other book, Dumbing Us Down, has been on my reading list for well over a year. Had I known it was only about 100 pages I might have picked it up earlier. My first reaction is it's very harsh to the modern school system. I wish he would cite more. He would probably say that his big, thick book on The Underground History of American Education as well as his 30 years as a teacher qualifies him "expert" enough to say what he wants to say.

One theme throughout the book is that we are trained in school to listen only to experts and not our own brains. So it makes sense that this book is from his life, his experience, his knowledge, and not what a lot of "experts" say. It's a book of essay, not research paper-theory style. It's his opinion and a very thought provoking one.

As I'm going through chapter 3, the message of the book starts to gently sink in and so many of my fears and insecurities as a homeschooling mom started turning into confidence and inspiration. However, it's not written to homeschoolers. It's written to anyone interested in education: parents, teachers, administrators, employers, everyday citizens.

He's obviously not coming from a Christian prospective, but he is coming from a very pro-family prospective and I really like that. I absolutely agree with him on the importance of inter-generational learning. The young and the elderly must spend quality time together and not be secluded in their little cells, only seeing people their own age as our society likes to place those 2 age groups specifically. I like his stress on community service being mandatory.

This little book is already having a profound effect on my thoughts on education, and it will certainly be read through again as I feel like I'm not absorbing everything this first read through. Knut is already chomping at the bit to read it as well, so I may have to pause before reading again to let him catch up and read it himself. I heard wind that the moms at my homeschool group might be discussing Gatto's works at an upcoming "Mom's Night Out" and I think that would make for a very interesting discussion.

Sometimes I Pretend I'm a Ninja

2011-12-06T07:00:00.002-06:00

Being a mom is hard work, no matter if you stay at work, work at work, home educate, or whatever. I find that as a mother, things fly at me all day long. I'm breaking up fights, handing out crackers, changing diapers, reading books, laying kids down for naps. ~~Sometimes~~ Most of the time, things happen all at once. Elias wants milk in his cup the same time David pulls Silje's hair, the same time Solveig just wants to snuggle, and certainly this all happens when Knut walks in the door at any given moment.

So sometimes I pretend I'm a ninja. This breaks up the day and helps me feel like a superhero, which is always a perk to the day.

When I finally got Solveig down for her nap, and have to walk across our super squeeky hallway and down the super squeeky steps, I realize that I know the specific steps I need to take to do it silently without waking her up. It's like Indiana Jones having to know Hebrew to get across some bridge. I jump from spot to spot across my booby-trapped hallway that threatens no nap time. I cross it like a ninja.

I like my Ergo baby carrier, but I love the ninja-esque feeling of the Moby and Mai Tai. Sticking the baby in and then wrapping all the ties around me like fancy origami I can't help but make noises like I'm doing karate with a few comic book "swoosh!" sound effects for good measure. It's fun to think of a mother's ability to sooth a crying baby like a super power.

I like homemade crackers, but we have Ritz on hand now for some Christmas cookie recipe. (Ritz/peanut butter sandwiches and dunked in almond bark...one of Knut's favorites). I bought an extra box just for snacks. The really cool thing about round crackers is how you can toss them to the kids like Frisbees, or dare I say those ninja like razor things in Jackie Chan movies? Not that I'm imagine hurting my kids with razors or anything...this analogy is falling apart fast.

So in other news, we just finished a small unit on ancient samurai in school yesterday. Guess where my brain has been?

I'm Blessed

2011-12-05T00:00:00.000-06:00

It's Sunday evening when I write this. It's awfully late in the evening, so I'll be brief.

I'm so blessed with a husband who will surprise me by cleaning out the fridge, which was a job that had not been done since mid-harvest and was reeeeeeeally bad. Some women appreciate diamonds. I'm over the moon for my clean fridge.

I'm blessed with friends that nourish the soul. There are some people that are fun to hang out with, and some with whom you experience true fellowship. That is most definitely from God.

I'm blessed with eggs from our chickens. It's still super cool. I still say "super cool" although I'm pretty sure there's some other lingo out there that is more hip.

If you'd like, tack on your blog link on how God has blessed you. Don't forget to link back to this blog in your post. You can simply leave a comment too, if you're not the blogging type.

School and Lots of Other Happenings

2011-12-03T09:53:00.001-06:00

Sorry I haven't been blogging much this week. We've been on such a roll here at home that I've been pretty passed out at the end of the day. So today's long winded post is divided into sections for your reading comfort and ease.

School:
We had such a solid week of school. The last few weeks we've just been "getting by" in that department, and have fallen short of our personal family goals. This last week was "game on" as we made leaps and bounds in several subjects. I think the time off around Thanksgiving really rejuvenated all of us and we were ready to hit the books hard.

Chickens:

The chickens are alternating between 2 egg days, and 5 egg days. This has been enough to sustain us so I don't have to buy eggs at the store at this point, and that is pretty fun. We're starting talk of not letting the chickens out of their coop anymore as the temps are really dropping, and have cleaned out their little hut for the winter with a fresh layer of litter, so that's done.

Baking:
I really need to get on the Christmas cookie baking, and will hopefully conquer that a bit this afternoon.

Household:

We got our new curtains in the living room. My 2 years of indecisiveness on that decision is done, so you all better say you like them. I'm going to go to the big city next week to figure out some tie-backs for them. I'm returning the ones in the kitchen as they turned out to be way more gray than they looked in the catalog. So now in the kitchen we have 2 different kinds up at a time, in 24 hour intervals so we can see what they look like in daylight and nightlight. So far number 2 and choice number 4 as choices are up as 1 and 3 have already been eliminated. I'd show you a picture, but on that picture it looks like the exact same curtain. That should tell me something. We're stuck here, and I just need to pick one. Seriously, I did not used to be this undecided and would just make gut decisions all the time.

Dentist:
Adding to the list of "things we jam into our time when Knut is entering his off season" is I went to the dentist. I was so nervous about going that I thought I was going to throw up that morning. Since my pregnancy with David years ago, my gums have been falling apart and my teeth have gotten so sensitive and I get very concerned talks from dentists. I was certain that I was going to get another "your teeth are really getting worse now, and you're going to need to get a lot of work done." and I'm not a very good dental patient. I'd rather give birth again, ya know?

Instead, I was pleasantly surprised with "You've literally reversed your gum problems, although the sensitivity might be here to stay... you have no cavities or any other work that needs to be done, and just keep up with the good work." I was literally floored and nearly started crying there on the cushy electric chair. It was my first good news regarding my mouth in 5 years. I almost threw a party.

Elias at the Doctor and Fender Bender:
When I got home Knut told me Elias was sounding wheezy, and with his respiratory history we decided to bring him in that afternoon. It turned out to be nasal, and not even enough to medicate. We felt a bit silly, but it's good to be cautious when there's a history. We got back in the van, and as I was pulling out of our parking spot, I noticed a little car. So I stopped. The car waved at me to go, I waved back that he had the right of way. So he waved back to go so I figured he wanted my parking space. So I started to back up, and wouldn't you know I bumped him. I got out and made sure he was ok. He seemed casual about it. We looked at our van. Not a scratch. We looked at his car. He had a big dent over his rear wheel. I asked if I did that. He laughed and said, no, that was already there. I did the scratch on the back door. I squinted, and saw the little bump.

So I offered our insurance information. We both had State Farm. He said he didn't think it was big enough to report, but we both agreed it'd be good to exchange information just in case. I told Knut when I got home that I didn't think he'd call.

So we were surprised to hear from our State Farm agent the next morning, saying a claim has been made, and she just needed to verify the information from me. I told her the whole story. She said the estimate to fix the scratch was $940 which freaked me out a little. She told me that it's covered under the liability on my insurance, and we didn't owe a deductible or anything. They said they'd take care of the whole claim and she just needed my side of the story on record and we didn't need to do anything else. Even though we don't have to pay any out of pocket, I still feel a bit cheated by that guy for some reason. I'm sure he's getting his whole dingy car fixed for some reason, and I told our agent that.

Family Photo Shoot:
In other happenings, as part of my Christmas present, Knut let me hire a professional to get our family pictures done. Last time we got family pictures, we only had 2 kids and I used a coupon for a free 8x10 and it was...awful. But it's on our wall, because it's the only one we have, and I think at least Silje looks super cute in it.

So I got our friend, (and married to Knut's relative...either a second or third cousin, or possibly a second and third cousin) to take the pictures. Here's some of her other amazing work. I think she just keeps getting better and better over the last few years. We've had other family members take family pictures for us, but it wasn't a big hour long photo session like this, and I was so excited.

It was a bit tough because we were planning to take a bunch outside, but the wind was coming from the wrong direction that morning at our house, and it was crazy windy in our yard. We ended up taking a bunch of indoor ones at Knut's parent's house where there's some really good lighting. Solveig was the only one who naturally smiled the whole time, and the other kids took turns being ornery. I'm really, really hoping that she got a good shot. If not, the one where Knut and I are yelling at the kids to sit down and smile and the kids are all crying may make the Christmas card this year.

Carpets Cleaned:

Directly after our photo shoot, we got a few of the carpets cleaned in our house. The basement where all the kids' toys are is pretty bare right now. Ironically, it seems as though they could care less. Then some friends of ours invited us over for supper and games, and that was lots of fun.

Today:
So today, I've got laundry to do, the playroom to put back together, and bake some Christmas cookies if there is time. Knut is planning of working on the fireplace mantel all morning, and taking a quick roller-skiing jaunt this afternoon as the recent snow is already gone.

And that's what's happening here. We're crossing things off our list like crazy and it feels so good.

Yarn Along

2011-11-30T08:56:00.003-06:00

Well, I'm later than usual, joining Ginny's Yarn Along. O well.

I included in the picture my dirty windows, so that all you other homemakers out there see that we are all not perfect and no one gets to everything, especially if there are 4 children living in the home. You're welcome.

In my knitting work in project picture this week, you see a pair of wool shorties that are being sold to a friend of a friend. They're in some lovely Peruvian Highland Wool and very squishy. She couldn't decide between the blue and the green. I already had some leftover blue from a previous soaker project, so I told her that we could just purchase the green, and I could use the blue as an accent color. I'm planning on embroidering a little baby elephant on the bum in the blue. Last minute I cast on for a blue waistband as well to make it pull together a bit more.

Yes, you do see that I sometimes use my wedding ring as a stitch marker. I have lots of stitch markers now, so I don't know why I forget and use it as habit sometimes when I can't find any in my project bag. In the past it's always been incentive for me to finish a project fast so that I can get it back.

It would normally be done by now, but my arms have taken a toll from working on the Serina Cardigan, and I'm taking more frequent breaks with my knitting. Knitting in US size 3 needles just makes my hands too tense, and I should have been breaking it up with projects using bigger needles like this one (size US 7 for this one) to make sure I'm relaxing my hands while I'm knitting. I really want to get the Serina done for Christmas, though. Cross your fingers for me.

I'm going to blame my arm aching on Solveig a bit too. She's been breaking in some new teeth and wants to be held all the time...and she's not a tiny baby anymore. So to be on the safe side to make sure I'm not hurting myself, there are several days that go by where I don't knit, and during the day when Solveig is awake and needy, I either put her in the Ergo, or wear some little arm braces that I got at a drug store a few years ago when the same thing happened when Elias was this age.

I'm finding lots of solutions to help her feel better, but she's still been a bit clingy. I'm sure it will be short lived as she's getting very adventurous in trying to walk. I've decided to enjoy her snuggles while they last. Knitting will be there when she's older.

I still need my fix, though. When I'm not knitting in the late evenings, I've cleaned out my sewing room and will start pulling together a few last minute Christmas gifts. I want to make a few outfits for Silje's doll.

I've also been reading my book that I couldn't find at all for this picture. I'm reading All Wound Up: The Yarn Harlot Writes for a Spin. I had not heard of "The Yarn Harlot" before but I read some excerpts from this book online and was hooked. It's a whole book with essays on knitting and she's so stinkin' funny. Knut will hear me laughing out loud on my side of the couch quite often these evenings. Although, when he asks what's so funny, I've learned it's not very effective to explain to him a knitting joke. They are completely lost on him.

Training Time

2011-11-29T08:32:00.000-06:00

Over time, my ideas of parenting have changed. Not so much my ideas on parenting, but my personal priorities of what I consider important. Early on I discovered that getting down to a battle of wills with a toddler over potty training really wasn't that important to me. I did that with Silje. I was determined to have her out of diapers at 18 months as I heard of other people doing. She was out...for about 2 days. Then the 9 month battle of dragging her to the bathroom, her refusing to go, etc. started. O, in the end I won...at least in theory.

With David I decided to wait until he was ready. I was surprised at how many raised eyebrows and questions I got about it. I mean, he was out of diapers by 3. It's not like it was forever. One day he decided he was done. Training him took less than a week. The number of accidents I dealt with were in the single digits. To me, I discovered that waiting was certainly the easy way to go.

But then people said that changing diapers for that "extended" amount of time was just so much more work. I just didn't seem like work to me, so I guess it's personal preference.

So I've been digging my heals in when the subject gets brought up about Elias as well. It's not that he couldn't go in the potty chair, it's that he refused to be bribed or anything. He decided he hated doing that, and that was that.

So I didn't push it. Well, I do in a small motherly-passive way. I call the diapers, "baby diapers." I talk about how soon he'll be a big boy and go in the potty chair. He will tell me he's already a big boy, and then I ask him why he's wearing baby diapers. I told him when he turned 3, he could start using the potty chair all the time, to which he always replied a simple: "no."

I honestly do not have time to push a child daily to do something he has no intention of doing. Kudos to mothers who can dedicate their day to it, but that's just not logistically possible for me. On top of that, I'm already washing diapers and changing diapers with Solveig. It's not like washing/changing just a few more is really hard.

Well, Elias turned 3, and he still refuses. We were going to have his big, extended party with all the great-grandparents and Knut's parents, and a few cousins, but then David got sick and I postponed it.

So just after Thanksgiving we decided to throw together a little shin-dig and guess what?

I guess he needed a party to go potty.

He tells me when he needs to go potty now and I take him there. It was just like a switch went off in his head. Now I'll say: "OK, Elias, it's time to go potty." (I learned long ago never to ask a toddler to go to the bathroom. It must always be a statement.) Then he willingly goes, like it's no big deal.

I still have him in diapers, and that is mostly because I'm lazy. I feel so guilty over it, but I figure: why not? We're going potty all the time now, but we still have accidents multiple times a day. Soon I'll take the diapers away and make it more urgent for him to take care of business. Soon...

I think I may be the ones digging in my heals a bit. (Really Elias? Deciding you're ready in the midst of Christmas preparations with all the baking and parties and warped schedule? Now you're ready?)

When I told Knut that I think the party was the turning point for him, he said: "We should have done that a year ago!" to which I replied..."um...we did. He actually had a birthday last year too. It's funny how that works."

I'm Blessed

2011-11-28T00:01:00.008-06:00

Along with everyone else in our house this weekend, I took a little vacation from blogging. I figured you all wouldn't mind. It was such a beautiful, peaceful weekend. I feel so caught up, so rejuvenated, so rested.

I feel so thankful to have married into such a family. We got together for Thanksgiving once again, and I just loved it.

I'm so thankful Knut's wood pile is done and he spent so much time inside with us. Each day the house got a little more caught up. Each day we read more stories, he measured again and again and stared at the mantel to be finished. I cleaned my sewing room and he cleaned his office.

I'm blessed with evenings talking and dreaming by the fire. I'm blessed with someone who likes to dream with me.

I'm thankful for the vitamin B complex I've been taking. It's like such a fog is lifted and I've been tearing through the house finishing projects like crazy. I feel so myself again and it feels a bit like coming up for air. I don't know if this made the difference, or Knut helping has made the difference. I have an appetite again, and that is so helpful in the energy department. I normally like to hit a problem from every angle I know, and perhaps most solutions are multi-faceted. Regardless, every tool, every help, every person, every solution was provided by God, and I am so thankful for that.

I'm blessed with this girl:

She helped me with the Christmas decorating, and paused here for a moment to read her Highlight's magazine. I remember when she first got one the bus for kindergarten. I felt like I was losing my time with her and it was so good to start homeschooling her a year later. However, the feeling like she's growing up so beyond me hasn't left.

She spends more time alone. She's the least needy of all my kids, and maybe that's the way it should be. Time with her has to be intentional. She requires so much less discipline than the other kids. We still have good talks, and learn together. She's just getting so big and growing up her own way. It's so bittersweet. As my oldest, everything she does will always be a "first" for me.

There will always be that tension of wanting to hold her forever, and not wanting to ever hold her back. She's my right hand most days, and though she occasionally complains, she asks for more to do more often. She gives me hope so many days when I'm correcting and disciplining the smaller ones like a broken record that it pays off. It's not that I'm so proud of her, it's that I'm so humbled to see God work in her life.

I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving weekend too. I hope you've had a chance to reflect on the so many ways God has blessed us. You can always leave a quick comment naming your blessings, or link to your specific blog post on blessings. To "link up" simply leave a link to this blog in your post and enter your blog link below.

Yarn Along

2011-11-22T23:00:00.007-06:00

My pictures for Ginny's Yarn Along are broken up today. I thought it might be a bit simpler that way.

Here's the back of my Serina cardigan pattern in progress. I'm using Madelintosh Tosh Sock yarn in the colorway "Ginger." I'm still adding length, sleeves, and front edging. I'm really hoping that I get it done by Christmas.

I ordered a new book that we've been enjoying the last 2 weeks. In fact, we like it so much that I may order some more for a few Christmas presents.

Farm Anatomy looked so cute when I first heard of it. It just came out last month, and I'm normally not that cutting edge. It's all illustrated so it's interesting for kids, but it's a basically a packed encyclopedia of information. If I had this book in hands when I met Knut...he would not have laughed at me so much. Well actually, even he's learning things in here.

Where are the sickles on a chicken? How do you milk a cow? How do you make maple syrup? How do you chop down a tree? What's a cord of wood exactly, and what's the easiest way to grow potatoes? How do you trim a horse's hooves? How do you can tomatoes? What's the difference between barley, buckwheat, millet and oats? What kinds of turkey breeds are there? How do you make cheese? What's a wether, a shoat, and a pullet? What's the best position to hold a sheep when shearing? (You yarn lovers out there would be pleased to know it talks about what sorts of plants work great for dying yarn, and the whole process of yarn being made, as well as quilts, corn husk dolls, flower pressing...)

Seriously, this is a very, very cool book. Silje and David are reading through it, and Knut and I have both been looking through it as well and learning things. Silje noticed all the recipes in there...and no one was surprised by that.

It brings me back to the conversation I had with my friend Doug when I first moved up here (and before I met Knut. He was trying to explain to me what a combine was, and every word out of his mouth sounded like a foreign language.

While I thank Doug for his effort, what I needed was the section of farm implements in this book:

Although, Doug may not actually admit this is a combine on the left because it's not the right color. ;) Knut was very happy they had a red combine in here. Until I picked up this book, I did not know that a combine is called a combine because it combines several parts of the harvesting process in one big swoop. It was a blonde moment for me.

The Creativity Curse

2011-11-22T08:23:00.001-06:00

There's a phrase that started leaving my mouth at a very early age: "I could make that." Knut will tell you I have the hardest time shopping for anything. Well, I enjoy shopping, but I have a hard time actually buying things. I love to go around a store and be inspired to make stuff. I look at a sweater and say "I could make that."

We've had in on our list to get curtains for our living room. For the longest time, I thought: "Why buy them if I can make them so easily?" Well, I did buy fabric, left the fabric near the window for awhile to be sure that it went with the room, finally sewed the fabric into drapes and guess what? I absolutely hated the color when they were done. Fortunately, they work really well in the boys room...which was further down the list for curtains.

After picking fabric, actually sewing it up, and encountering failure my sewing-for-home-mojo was lost a bit. New covers for the couch pillows in the den? I could make that. Add it to the pile. Recover the chair in our bedroom upstairs? I could do it. Add it to the pile. Redo the seats to the chairs in the kitchen with the incredibly dated gold plastic? I could make that. Add it to the pile.

Unfortunately for our house, Knut has the "I could make that" issue as well. I can't tell you how much fun it was when our washing machine broke a few years ago. I mean, it wasn't fun. However, calling a repair guy to come out that same day, bring a part, have it done, and be on his way was incredibly fabulous. It was done immediately with a phone call because it was something neither Knut or I could fix.

I hit a breaking point recently when Knut was swatting a fly in the kitchen. The fly had landed on the curtains in there, and Knut gave a hard swat and killed the fly and ripped the old curtains. I've been meaning to replace those curtains, so I wasn't too horrified. However, it was a really obvious tear right in the middle, and I have no wish to fix something that is on the "replace soon" list. No, it just moves it up to the "replace now" list.

It was when I admitted out loud to Knut: "I could make new curtains. In fact, I've been looking for just the right fabric for them for over 2 years. I'm not any closer. I am not looking forward to this project. You know what? I should buy curtains!"

I know. Those words hardly ever leave my mouth: "I could buy that!" After a shopping date with my sister via our cell phones and laptop in front of each of us thousands of miles apart, I picked out curtains for both the kitchen and dining room.

I feel so wild. I never just buy something. I may or may not have been hyperventilating and needed my sister on the phone to help me click the "place order" button.

Also, I bought a sweater at Target that I liked. It was even one that would have been so easy to make! In fact, as I tried it on, I was thinking of what yarn I would have used instead had I made it. It was one of those "boyfriend sweaters" that are so popular now with some fun leather buttons. I so could have made it.

Knut could not be more pleased that I'm checking things off my list like replace a 20 year old hand me down sweater that I wear around the house, and finish the curtains that have been on the list to replace for years and I've just been overly indecisive.

I even bought noodles at the store last week. Even though I know how to make them. Mine are better (not to mention cheaper), but it's nice to have something quick to grab.

It's so much fun to make stuff, but when I'm as behind on everything as I am...it feels better to be caught up than to have made everything myself. It takes some getting used to, but I'm finding a little balance...for now.

I'm Blessed

2011-11-21T00:01:00.002-06:00

It's the week of Thanksgiving, so this week's "I'm Blessed" post is extra special. I'm really hoping that this week as it is tradition to count our blessings, there will be more link ups with this party than ever before. If it's easier to link up by just copying and pasting the button, here it is to put in your own post:

I'm so thankful for music. I've been listening to a lot of music lately. I got a new Andrea Bocelli c.d. and it just touches the soul. Turning on old VBS music has been calming the kids down. I just cannot imagine my life without it.
I'm thankful for one on one time with the kids that is so precious.
I'm thankful for my friend who came out to visit me on Saturday. She brought along brownie mix and Oreos and made me Oreo brownies in my messy kitchen without a second thought. I'm so thankful for her. I don't come across friendships like the one she has given me that often.
I'm thankful for lefse. It's a Norwegian treat that we get on holidays, and once again Knut's grandma who is either 90 or close to it still makes it for the whole family and it's so good it brings tears to the eyes. I'm so thankful for Knut's grandparents for 1,000 reasons, and this is merely one small way they are so cool. She made it for Knut and I once at our old house and showed us all her tricks. We video taped it, but ours still doesn't hold a candle to hers. I'm thankful for times when David says "Mommy, I miss Great-Grandpa M. I hope he likes heaven." like he did this last week. His great-grandpa M. died almost a year ago, and David still talks about him. My kids know 6 of their great-grandparents (well, 5 now...) and the ones in town they know pretty well. How many of us know our great-grandparents pretty well? It's so amazing to me.
I'm thankful for evenings around the fireplace like this last Sunday night when Knut, the kids and I just sang songs, and were silly. I think Knut and I are finally starting to relax. Finally.
I'm thankful for my in-laws who drove the 3 younger kids and me to church yesterday while Silje and Knut were in the big city for the weekend. I'll have to tell you more about it later, but I ended up being stranded at home without our van, and they gave me a ride without even thinking about it twice.
Once again, this Thanksgiving I'm stunned with how much I have to be thankful for. Through life's ups and downs, Christ is a constant. "Because He lives, I can face tomorrow." When I go through a mental list of all my blessings, what it always boils down to is this: God's grace. I do not understand it, no matter how I try. I do not deserve it, and only I and He knows how deeply embedded my sin is. (Well, maybe He knows more...) How does one wrap a mind around a debt forgiven like that. I feel like not only has God forgiven my debt, but he's given me richness of His Spirit heaped on top. Isn't it overwhelming? It's good to dwell on this. It's where I always try to direct my mind when I'm struggling with unforgiveness.

Well, I'm starting to ramble in my thoughts, so that means it's time to stop and give someone else a chance to talk. This week, of all weeks, share how God has blessed you. Either leave a message, or leave a link to your blog post on how God has blessed you. Don't forget to link back to this blog, or copy and paste the code above into your post for the little linky button.

Thank you all for continuing to be a part of this Monday party. It is such a blessing to me.

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real

2011-11-17T15:09:00.000-06:00

I've been wanting to join along with this mother/daughter blog for awhile, and it seems appropriate to join them this week. The theme is: "Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real" and you're supposed to post a picture for each one of those words. I've been needing some incentive to get the camera out in search of beauty, so this was a fun project. I kinda didn't realize it was Thursday until just now, so I'm just throwing it together as a nap time pick me up.

{Pretty}

The wind has blown most of the leaves off the trees. The temperature has dropped, but it's still pretty sunny most of the time. Although I miss my flowers so much already, and I'm too afraid to slowly kill a plant indoors like I seem to do every winter, I see that there is still beauty to be found...with the right eye.

{Happy}

Our wood pile.
Knut has been spending hours each day stacking wood. Last year he gathered wood from the "little wilderness" behind our house for the firewood we used all winter long. This year he went to an abandoned little homestead/clump of forest on farmland we use about 1/4 mile from our house to gather fallen trees. He's been chainsawing and stacking away for some time now.

Seeing a big pile of stacked wood is a happy thing. It brings to mind evenings next to a fire curled up with a good book, or a good knitting project.
It's like finding an egg.
Getting a letter in the mail.
Putting on a Winter coat and finding a $5 bill that you left in there from the previous Spring.
It just makes you smile.

{Funny}

I brought David to the doctor this last Monday because he's been having a sustained, although controlled fever, and a bad cough. He was diagnosed with having pneumonia in his right side, and swollen tonsils that might be the beginnings of strep. We got a hefty antibiotic, and a challenge to help David rest. I rented Cars 2, and let him watch it as much as he want so at least he wouldn't be begging me to go outside on our new (to us) swing set or run his normal laps around the house.

So he obediently stayed on the couch, as you can see in this picture above. I'm happy to report that as of day 3 of the antibiotic, he no longer has any fever to treat, and we just have about another week of the antibiotic. Besides some coughing, everyone else has been healthy.

{Real}

Sorry for the grainy picture.

There seems to be a challenge getting the house clean all at once. First I spent some time cleaning out the 3 season porch, and I took out my dress form that was left out there the last time I was taking pictures of Clara cowls because that room has the best lighting. She (the unnamed dress form...she really ought to have a name) should go back to the laundry/sewing room, but it's so messy and so low on my cleaning priority list that she has just remained in the dining room as we've been doing school. It's odd to walk past her when the room is dark at night. We've kind of gotten used to her being there. She needs to go back to her room. I'll get there...

Also, this last section is formatted funny with lots of spacing and won't be fixed. And that's just the way it is.

Adjusting

2011-11-17T07:00:00.037-06:00

I'm sorry for the lack of fun pictures in the last few posts. As I alluded to yesterday, I've been procrastinating in many areas, including taking pictures.

In all honesty, I'm in a funk. Whether it's things piling up on me that I've been ignoring, or my hormones adjusting once again, or a hint of postpartum depression, I don't know. I've lived through depression before, and I don't think this is it, but it could be if I don't start taking care of things.

It hasn't ever gotten to the point of taking anti-depressants before. It's not that I'm against them as a whole. I know they have helped many people.

I have reservations about anti-depressant for me for 2 reasons: 1) medication of any kind seems to effect me to the extreme. I tend to get all possible side effects. I don't know if it's because I'm small, or what. From many experiences, I've learned to take medications very, very cautiously as they have not always made things better. 2) The one time (back in the big city) when I discussed with my doctor the funk I was in, he whipped out his prescription pad and wrote me a brain chemistry altering medication faster then I could explain all that was the matter. There were no tests to see if I was vitamin D deficient, if I had thyroid issues, if I was getting enough nutrition and exercise. I was a bit uncomfortable with that. If it got to the point of medication, I'd go there. I'm not convinced that should be my first move without ruling out some other things.

I'm glad Knut is home more often because he's really the key to getting me back on track. We found a system a few kids ago that seems to work for us. He's learned the hard way that saying "try harder" isn't very helpful. We normally tackle my slumps as a team, as I'd like to think I help pick him up when he's down as well. His job is simple: make sure I'm eating enough, getting exercise, getting enough sleep, and getting outside at least once a day. Once I'm pulled out, I can manage these things on my own again. For awhile at least, Knut will need to boss me around/baby me a bit.

Well, I've just recently admitted to him that I'm really not right and can't stand the thought of it getting worse. I've been "worse" before and it scares me. He's already started pushing the vegis and supplements. Honestly, someone handing me my vitamin every day picks me up more than you'd think. Eating vegetables and fruit takes more thought now that the garden is done. He's been waking with the early risers in the house and letting me sleep in.

There's also some unwritten things on my mind. Living so far from my family makes some situations hard.

Weaning Solveig is also on my mind. She's 11 months old, and I'm assessing whether or not I should wean her soon. Here's my nursing history for those dying to know:
Silje: breastfed for 5 months. I got a severe case of the stomach flu, got dehydrated, and could not get my milk supply up after that. I remember feeling like such a failure having to rely on formula, which in hindsight was silly. She was so fat, so healthy, and no one doubts her intellect.

David: 12 months-ish. His last feeding was a week or 2 after he turned 1. I was at the point in my parenting journey where nursing him longer than that felt "weird."

Elias: 11 months. I intended to feed him longer (I was open to 18 months at that point) but he had a biting issue I couldn't resolve. As my lactation consultant friends says "He has bad table manners." I weaned him a month earlier than my goal and have no regrets.

Solveig: I'm still open to the 18 month range. However, I do not think that will be the best thing for our family. Knut and I want to take some time this winter for just the 2 of us. It is much overdue, and I do not want to bring Solveig along. She is probably the best nurser that I've fed from the very beginning. Although she's starting to try some gymnastic feats while nursing, she really is a joy the vast majority of the time. I feed on demand, and she still nurses a lot. She eats solids a lot too and drinks from a cup, but she's showing no sign of wanting to give me up.

Weaning was easy (and sometimes accidental) with my other kids, but I'm nervous that will not be the case with Solveig. It's still awhile off. On the other hand, Knut and I don't get away that often. We could really use this time to regroup, and I think that a parent unit (marriage) in sync and on the same page is more valuable to my kids than extended nursing. I want them both, but their priorities are not the same in my mind.

I used to think "ick" with extended nursing, and that somehow it was a sign of lack of boundaries with the parent and child. However, now that I've seen friends and some extended family who have perfectly normal relationships with their adult children, I see that I've been wrong. I have been a mother long enough to realize that kids turn out fine whether they've been nursed for 2 years, or 5 months...or only on formula. The question that is now important is not what other people think I should do, what some study says I should do, or what any experts say.

What matters is what Knut and I believe is best for our family given the information that only we have. Isn't it clever how God gives authority to make these decisions to the people who have the most information about the situation? However, what I want, and what I believe our family needs, are not always the same thing. That is a really tough part of being a parent. Nursing my baby is a good thing. Ignoring my husband for a non-necessity for one of my kids is not only bad for my husband, it's bad for my kids.

The only place I've gotten with this whole debate in my head, and talking it out with Knut is I won't start trying to wean at least until after Christmas. There's no point in taking away breastfeeding during the stress of the holidays. I keep reminding myself that maybe then it will be easier. I've always stressed at this point unnecessarily as the kids have given me up easier than I anticipated.

Maybe by then I'll have come up with a plan that I'm satisfied with, because there isn't one settled in my brain yet. Maybe by then I'll have adjusted to the idea. Maybe then my brain will be working better anyway.

Yarn Along

2011-11-15T23:09:00.001-06:00

As expected, a week is all I can stay away from Ginny's Yarn Along blog party. This post will be about 2 of my favorite past times: knitting and reading. Pardon the poor picture, I took it at night.

As for knitting, it's been on my mind more than I'd like to admit. The Buttercup soaker pattern is finished, and is merely awaiting editing before I hand it over to the testers. I have no idea why this editing isn't done yet. I've literally set aside evenings to do this editing, and I've spent my time procrastinating. I have no idea why this step is so hard for me. It's not the editing that's hard, it's the handing off of a pattern to another human being and leaving myself open to hear their opinion on it. It's terrifying, I tell you. When my editing is done, I have nothing left standing in my way to email it off to them. Fortunately, the testers are all being patient and sweet with me.

The same story goes with the Dirk sweater. That one is written and edited, but needing a bit of size grading done, and I was planning on doing that after the Buttercup soaker. I am determined to get those 2 non-knitting but all about knitting projects done this week. I need some sort of accountability partner in this, and not my mother. (No offense, Mom.)

So what have I been doing when I'm procrastinating? Well, that's what you see in the picture above. I've finally got the top portion of my own Serina Cardigan down to the armholes finished, and let me tell you, it's been a journey. I've learned that I'm wingin' it a bit too much, and I need to go back to the graphing paper and calculator and get it perfect. So I did, and it is perfect. I'm so excited not to be ripping out this work because it feels that's all I've been doing lately. My next project will definitely have to be from an already written pattern, otherwise I may burn out in this designing thing. (P.S. the yarn is Madelintosh Tosh Sock in ginger. I've been looking forward to this project and this yarn for months. It is seriously as delicious a yarn as everyone says it is!)

I have these picked out for my next "quick" project to reward me for finishing all my pattern writing. I think I may cast on when the 2 projects I've been procrastinating with are done. I've got some chocolate brown wool I'm going to use. They'll be my chocolate bunny slippers and my very first felted project. I'm slightly nervous about that felted part. However, I've felted sweaters before by accident, so it can't be that hard if it can be done accidentally.

As for reading, all I really have been able to manage is some Bible reading. I've been skipping around the gospels. It's been awhile since I've gone through the words in red. Daily devotions are not as common for me as I wish they were. I used to be in a Bible study with other women at my church during the day but decided that I cannot fit that in with homeschooling. I used to rely on that for my daily study, and feel a bit on my own. I'm feeling a little dry for some depth, and too exhausted to dig. Sigh.

I can't throw in the towel, of course, so I thought that just because I can't do a deep study, maybe I can just read something every day. I haven't picked a book or area, or chapter. I know I should, but lately it's considered a good day if I just get it in my hands and read something that looks interesting in the gospels. Even then, I find my brain wandering, or completely glazed over. Maybe I should pick up a Bible study guide to help me dig even if it's on my own. I don't want to read what someone says about the Bible, I actually want to dig in the Word, but maybe I'd be getting more out of it with a book to focus me. Hmm...I just thought of that while I'm writing. I think that may be a good idea.

My Buddy

2011-11-15T10:44:00.000-06:00

We've come so far in 3 years! It's been ages since I've spent some quality hospital time with our little boy.

Happy Birthday Elias! He's 3, although when you ask him if he's 3, he'll shout "no" which pretty much sums up this age in a nice, neat little package.

He continues to be a goofball whenever he sees the chance. Like his siblings, his heart is so big. He loves to give hugs and get hugs. He's a bit more tenderhearted when it comes to the dolls and pretend puppies in the house. He cares for any little creature that comes his way. He refers to Solveig as "my baby." He feels so responsible for her happiness and safety that he takes her looking after very seriously.

The tough part about living with Elias is his constant...we'll call it talking. He'll ask for more milk 6 times before you have a chance to answer him. He repeats himself over, and over, and over and over. It can literally drive you up the wall. It's constant correction. We're still working on his verbal skills as well, and it's getting easier to understand him and he adds new words to his vocabulary all the time.

The fun part about living with Elias is he's so funny. He's such a charmer. He says "You're boo-ful Mom." in a very matter of fact way nearly every day.

If you ask him if he's a big boy, he'll say: "No! Ee-why-is!"
If you ask him if he's 3, he'll say: "No! Ee-why-is!"
That's our Elias. He is who he is, and he isn't anything else.

I'm Blessed

2011-11-14T00:02:00.001-06:00

Happy Monday!
...or at least we hope it will be soon!

I'm taking yet another one of my kids (David) to the doctors this morning for a continuous fever and bad cough. I expect another diagnosis of bronchitis, and another prescription. In view of these circumstances, I'm thankful that we have access to medical care, and modern medicine. In addition, I'm grateful this corresponds with a monthly event where the 2 littles get to have a day of play at a local church while I run errands with the school aged kids. Of course, this isn't the errand morning I was planning for, but it does mean a doctors visit without the baby and toddler. I'm sure you have some idea what I could possibly mean what peaceful bliss it is to be in a waiting room without those babes.

I'm thankful for my family perhaps more than usual. Whenever I come to this post every week, I have to stop myself from going on and on about my family even though many days I hide from them, get overstimulated by them, or run from the house. It's easy for those little ones and the husband to be the object of complaint so often. However, when I reflect on what I'm thankful for, they always go straight to the top without hesitation.

I'm thankful for a steady, though still small, supply of eggs.

The white one is actually a pale blue, which is tough to tell from the photo. It's just so pretty in real life. The second one from the bottom is a bit smaller than the other, and I'm wondering if this egg is another "first egg" from a new layer, but there's no real way for me to know.
I'll have to get a picture of the new pale blue shade we just started getting. I'll add it to this post later today if I ever make it home and have 2 moments put together. If you never see the picture today, well...I maybe could use a prayer of patience.

I'm blessed with a steady rhythm of sleep that's covered our house. Solveig doesn't get up at night as often. The kids get up early, but not in the middle of the night anymore. Knut's comings and goings no longer stir us. We're starting to adjust to daylight saving. I'm starting to remember what it feels like to have normal sleep patterns.

I'm blessed to see so many opportunities for our kids. Whether it's music lessons, horse back riding with friends, endless resources of books and music at the library, raising chickens, playing fetch with the dog, knowing their great-grandparents well...I'm amazed at their life...my life.

If you'd like to count your blessings with me. Whether it's specific or general, we should "Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name" as my class talked about in Sunday school yesterday. It's not just about the season. It's about today, right now, in this moment. Leave a comment, or I'd love to see a link to your blog (be sure to link back to this blog in your post) with your post on blessings/ how God has blessed you.

Homeschool Friday

2011-11-11T08:45:00.000-06:00

I had a big, long, elegant post ready for this morning. However, I'm questioning what I said a bit, so I'll just hang onto it until I can own my words fully. So you'll have to settle for last minute rambling.

I tried a new experiment this week in our little school. To explain, we live in an old house with lots of little rooms. Well, perhaps not little, but with a lack of the "great room" that is so popular with modern building. Somedays I miss the old days at our old rental with just one living room. The main floor consisted of a living room and kitchen. My kids were always in one of those places. It was very simple. At this house, I have to track down the kids constantly, and see if they're still remotely on task.

What has been happening is I'll work on school with Silje in the dining room, and everyone will be around us until Solveig is ready for her morning nap. Things work really well when everyone is nearby because I don't have to leave Silje often to deal with fights, etc. When Solveig goes down for her nap, I try to get everyone to be relatively quiet because somehow she has managed to be a bit of a light napper.

So as soon as Solveig gets down for her nap, I come back downstairs to find the t.v. on. So I turn the t.v. off, deal with the weeping and gnashing of teeth to follow, and try to continue on school. This is where things get a bit crazy.

So I've tried unplugging the t.v. I've even tried putting the wires all back in incorrectly so they can't just plug it in. David has a way of figuring it out.

So this week, I've changed things up by bringing our school down to the playroom in the finished basement. Silje has a little play school desk down there anyway. When I'm down there all the time, the boys don't dare sneaking on the t.v. and there are plenty of toys for them to play with.

I'd like to say it was a raving success, but not so much. We got some school done, but it was often too loud down there for Silje to concentrate, so I'd let her do her reading upstairs. So when she would do reading upstairs, I would sneak upstairs too to do a bit of laundry or dishes.

Then for the last part of the week, David has had a bit of a fever and still won't be still, so I've let the t.v. come back on in an effort to entice him to rest. So there goes all the work of forbidding it in the beginning part of the week.

In the move someplace, I've completely fallen off my spreadsheet. As in, I have no idea where it is. School has become, "OK, Silje, I think you should read a few chapters from this reader." "OK, Silje, why don't we read some of our read aloud. How much? Um...until we feel like stopping." "Silje, why don't you do about this much of Latin."

What has been lacking this week is our usual technical element of language arts. Silje has been doing a TON of reading, so it's not like we've been lacking it all together. When the day has been crazy, she just goes to the library pile, sits herself down, and I don't hear from her for 3 hours.

I was grateful for my homeschool mom's night out last night. I was discussing with another mom how Saxon math with David has been dragging and it's been hard for either one of us to want to do it. He hangs around me when I'm cooking, and I've been giving him a pile of pistachios and letting him use those to help him figure out math problems while I'm cooking. "So David, if you have 5 dollars, and you want to buy a toy for 4 dollars, how many dollars will you have left." Then he fiddles with his pistachios, and triumphantly gives me the answer.

I told my friend that he's been learning more math with me quizzing him with pistachios than our Saxon math level K program. She said that she always skipped Saxon K with her kids, and went straight to 1st grade because she found it too slow and unnecessary. I told her I liked that idea, but the 1st grade program uses workbooks, which the K level doesn't have. His writing is not at a 1st grade level, and I think having to write in a workbook would turn him off to math for a long time. He just can't write yet, so I don't see how he could fill in the answers and would very quickly be frustrated.

"So, what if you use the 1st grade program, but you do the writing for him. The K program doesn't have a workbook because most kindergarteners can't do that. So if you did the writing for him, it would be on par with his abilities for writing, but at least give him a challenge in this subject."

That thought had not occurred to me, but I kind of like it. I could start out writing for him, and I'm pretty sure that eventually he'll be asking to do it himself by the end of the year. It's so nice to have a group of moms who have been doing this longer to give me advice on ironing out the little problems.

Other moms in the group suggested that I just focus on "everyday" math that we've been doing with the pistachios. This program covers calendars and a bit of time as well, but that would not be too hard to teach off curriculum. Many homeschoolers skip kindergarten altogether, like suggested the Better Late Than Early approach (which is a book I've been meaning to check out).

I arrived at Mom's night last night feeling pretty lousy for falling off my spreadsheet. I confided in another mom that I've been so out of it I had no idea if we were on track or not. She asked me what we've been doing all day. "Well, we've been reading a lot. We've been talking and discussing a lot. The kids draw. David has been building a lot with junk in the recycling bin. I cook, they ask questions about what they're reading."

"Do you have any idea how much your kids are learning!" She exclaimed. She told me about how many days were like that and now that her older ones are approaching high school and they're having to take some serious subjects, they're handling it like it was a piece of cake.

I left mom's night feeling good about our days. I would like to find the spreadsheet with our "schedule" and find where in the world we are. I may just print off a new one. I'm glad to know that if our days are filled with learning, we are on track. The spreadsheet is just my made up security blanket, but not our success.

Three Hens

2011-11-10T10:21:00.001-06:00

We have 3 hens laying out of 17. It's been every other day: 1 egg, 2 eggs, 1 egg, 2 eggs. I expect it will be slim pickin's like this until Spring. When all of our chickens are laying consistently, we should be getting 5-6 dozen a week.

This picture represents 3 different breeds. I got the privilege to witness one of the black ones lay the one in the middle. (Well, I saw her sitting on it for a few moments until she got off very kindly to let me take it. It's very strange holding an egg still warm. Our hens are obviously not very broody.

I saw one of the Amaracaunas sitting on the one on the right, but she hadn't laid it just then. So I'm wondering if the spotted one on the left is from a black hen, or maybe from one of our two "Dotties" as I call them. I'm trying to remember the name of that breed. Wellsummer perhaps?

Aren't they beautiful? I ended up blowing out our first egg to keep as a keepsake. It turned out very well. I used the egg in a chocolate chip bar recipe that we all enjoyed.

This is fun.

Work In Progress

2011-11-08T23:39:00.000-06:00

Well, I'm normally Yarning Along with Ginny, but this week I'm taking a bit of a pass. Sorry internet people. I'm busy. Well, that and when I'm sick and tired of showing pictures of the same projects, I can only imagine how you must feel.

I did finish the sweater. I need to block it and take some pictures. I'm still behind on my pattern writing and editing, but have made huge strides and am probably hours from being done. That has to count for something.

I'm thinking of broading my horizons on the blogging front to keep it interesting. For instance, I may not write about knitting on Wednesdays. I'm such a rebel. What's funny is this is actually my version of rebelling.

Mondays will still be along the "I'm Blessed" theme. I'm not as committed to the Homeschool Fridays, so I'll no longer put the linky up for that. I do still plan on writing about homeschooling at the end of the week. I didn't get this far in my last homeschooling post, but as Silje is starting to read my blog from time to time I want to be careful to not share anything that may embarrass her, you know?

She's getting to that age where I could completely humiliate her and have no idea that I've done it. So the posts that involve my kids might be gone over more than usual to make sure they would approve. If I don't have time to go over it, it may be late in publishing, or I may not get to it at all. *gasp!* I know. We'll all be fine.

Well, talking about potty training with Elias, and Solveig's random poop stories are probably still fair game. I mean, I need some good stuff documented while they're still at the age of not caring.

So on other quick news:

We had another 2 egg day. I had to buy another carton of eggs.

Designs for new patterns keep getting entered in my sketchbook. I so should not have opened up this can of worms in my head. It just won't stop. If you ever wonder why I don't scrapbook: this is it. It's not that it doesn't appeal to me, it's that I would take it to the extreme and it would take over my life. So far I haven't let pattern making take over my life, but it so easily could. I had to make some pretty specific rules for myself even for making these patterns.

Knut says he's still recovering from harvest. I know the real reason for his restlessness is he needs to ski. The sun goes down too fast for roller skiing after supper now, and there's no snow for the real kind. There's some really good things on the horizon with him though, so he's starting to pick himself up.

I bought an antique darning egg at an antique store today. I have no plans to darn anything, but I think just having one is darn fun to have on display.

Yes, I did just say that.

I'm Blessed

2011-11-07T00:01:00.000-06:00

This week:
We had our first 2-egg day on Sunday. We know that when the chickens are laying at full speed we could get 5-6 dozen a week from them. We're told that as they're still young, and the daylight is shortening and the weather is cooling, we probably won't see those numbers until Spring. I'm still excited and feel all warm and fuzzy inside whenever I find each one, even though it's just one.

I finally got the toy clutter destashed in the basement. It's like a huge breath of fresh air to see big trash bags leave our house.

I'm enjoying the little baby cuddles as long as they last. Solveig does this thing where she nuzzles her nose right into my neck, and then I put my face on her neck, and we just breathe and smell each other's skin. There is nothing like it.

We're enjoying the smell and colors of Fall in their full abundance.

Knut got our new playground up. For some reason there are not as many bolts putting the playground up as taking it down at his aunt's house, so we'll have to wait for a trip to town to pick up some more and get the swings up.

The chickens have not shown any interest in the playground yet, hence, have not pooped all over it. If anything would entice us to fence them in, this might be one of them. (Although Lena promptly pooped at the end of the slide. Sigh. Way too much of my life is about dealing with poop.)

I was so overwhelmed with the number of people who showed excitement for our first egg. I had no idea the extent of people waiting for our chickens to lay. I should have had a pool going.

Knut and I are finally getting used to him being around the house more. There's always an adjustment period after harvest ends. He needs to remember that communication with me looks different than it does with the other 4 farmers he works with. I need to remember I'm not the only adult and decision maker in the house when he's home. We're starting to get back into step.

I got to chat on the phone for a long time with my Aunt who is a constant encouragement and kindred spirit. I don't know how the farm wives in the "days of yore" went weeks, and sometimes months without any communication with their families. I'm so blessed to live in an age where they are all just a phone call away, wherever we live.

How has God blessed you this last week? The absolute highlight on the blog for me each week reading your comments and your own blog posts. It makes Mondays better, and Mondays can use all the help they can get.

Homeschool Friday

2011-11-04T07:00:00.000-05:00

Hmmm...last week I had to cut out half my post because I was rambling too much.
This week I have no stinkin' idea what to write.

I'm starting to feel this conflicting pull when writing about homeschooling. The fact is, most of the time I'm talking about parenting just as much as homeschooling. Until I started homeschooling, I did not realize that's what homeschooling was. It's parenting 24/7 for what feels, some days, like forever. It's insane.

It's setting up house and home and getting really cozy in crazy town. When people say: "O, I could never homeschool. I need that break from my kids." Yep. Me too. No argument whatsoever. You do go crazy when you are around them this often.

So we decided to be crazy, and live crazy. It's...well... *surprise* crazy.

My intent with writing about homeschooling on Fridays is to somehow sort through the crazy. Reflect on the crazy, and somehow make it a little more sane. My only problem is that when I read back through the weeks, I sound...you guessed it. I over-analyze the silliest things. I sound so unschoolish in one post and so extremely structured in another.

I wonder if it's good for me to reflect on what we're doing like this so much, but as I'm reflecting on whether or not I should reflect, I realize that reflecting is a good thing. It keeps me on track. It keeps me honest with myself and keeps me on track with the goals set out for the year.

For instance, Silje finished the first half of 2nd grade math this week. She's so excited about that, and is very bummed that my answer to "Does this mean we don't have to do math again until after Christmas?" was "no."

Last week the part that didn't get published was me having all sorts of doubts and then circling back to confidence and then around that whole argument a few more times on whether or not David is "on track" and if we're doing the right thing in regards to him. I'm firmly in the "yes, we're doing the right thing by homeschooling him" camp.

It's just, when he acts up choir, I wonder if it's because I didn't teach him to respect his teacher enough. I wonder if it's because a classroom setting is so foreign to him. I know eventually he'll need to learn how to conduct himself in a classroom, but does that need to come now? Every book, every expert, and most importantly, my gut, says "classroom-smassroom."

It's not that we're not working with David on this. I spent more time last week getting David to sit while eating than I did working with his reading. It's not that we're reading that little, it's that we're working on him sitting that much. I know I need to continue setting a high bar for him, and I know that he will get better with maturity. I even know that if he were in a different school, we'd be facing the same issues with him. I worry so much what other people think, though. I know I shouldn't, but I do. When he gets excited and can't sit still in some public place, I think everyone around me thinks I'm doing my son a disservice by homeschooling him. I wonder if everyone thinks that I'm not doing a good job, and should leave him to professionals.

The thing is, I see him improve. I know he's doing awesome at home. I see the lights go on, and his heart grow big. I know this is what we should be doing, but at this point, I feel like everyone's just going to have to take my word on that. I wish I could show off my perfectly well behaved children in public, and everyone think I must be some amazing teacher and mother. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way.

What I'm struggling to say is that when my kids act out in certain scenarios, I really want to say, "I know it doesn't look like we're on top of this, but trust me...we are devoting our life to this" but I never do because I know how crazy it sounds. They don't understand. They don't live in crazy town.

So this tension...this feeling like the kids are thriving doing what we're doing, and my struggle to relax and enjoy the crazy makes me sound laid back and hip "whatever" attitude combats my need to control everything. Then the events happen where my child does not perform on cue, or do my bidding (which always seems to have an audience) and I want people know that we are all over it. It's stupid that I want people to know this, when this is none of their business, and they're most likely not thinking the thoughts I think they're thinking anyway.

Whew! Good therapy session. See you next week.

Need to unload your school week? Want to share any highs and lows from teaching your kids this last week? I'd love to read other homeschool blogs, so please share with the class your "Homeschool Friday" post. Or just leave a comment below the little linky thingy.

And Now, What We've All Been Waiting For...

2011-11-03T14:52:00.000-05:00

Knut was the one to find it. It wasn't there when I checked on them this morning. I told Knut over lunch today that I was worried that the temperature has dropped so much that they won't lay now until Spring. I was wondering if they were getting enough light in the coop when they were shut in all day. We decided to let them have their afternoons back in the yard again, since they obviously weren't laying in the woods.

He let the chickens out when he went out to rake, and sent a picture text to my phone. (We just added texting to our phone last week...I'm pretty sure that's not how Ma and Pa Ingalls communicated that a chicken has laid an egg back in the day.)

The black hens are supposed to lay this dark color, so it was one of the "Rubies" as I call that breed because their combs are so bright red.

It's fairly small. Maybe about the size of a medium at the store? Here it is in our egg carton next to the larges from the grocery store. As you can see, we were running low on eggs again and I didn't want to buy them, again.

O, it's so pretty! I'm just so happy. So, so, so, so happy!

It's about time!

Catalogs

2011-11-03T07:00:00.003-05:00

It seems that this last week or so has been busy for our postman. Christmas is not here, but the catalogs and items in stores have already arrived.

I love Christmas, and I won't lie. I get giddy when Christmas music comes on the radio and I see rows of tree ornaments in the stores this early. We've been starting to get catalogs directly marketed for Christmas presents (although this vast industry rarely ever says the word "Christmas"...don't get me started). We're getting hit from every angle. From the American Girl doll people to a place we get some homeschool stuff...we got 'em. (There's some really cool educational toys in that catalog that mommy has been drooling over...my poor kids.)

I have let the kids look at the catalogs because I remember paging through them as a kid too. I could spend hours looking through a JC Penney catalog and decorating my room, picking out outfits, and of course jewelry. Maybe I shouldn't, but the kids love to go through these catalogs.

Fortunately, materialism and requests for stuff didn't take over our home, and I think that was because we just recently got another catalog.

We got in the mail a gift giving catalog from Food for the Hungry, a charity that my mom works for. Knut and I have a huge respect for them. Just ask either one of us and we'll talk your ear off about how they don't just give things to the poor, but they allow the poor to maintain their dignity. We'll tell you how careful we have seen them use donations, and how they come up with programs that are smart. They deal with both emergency situations, and community development. I love hearing about their community development programs because they're so careful to make sure that the community they serve does not become dependent on them. (I told my mom I was probably going to blog about it so she told me to put a link to their Facebook page.)

So I looked through the whole thing, and then just left it on top of the pile along with all the toy catalogs. I just waited until the kids found it. It didn't take long.

Silje came running up to me to tell me about the importance of clean water, and what water filled with parasites can mean for people who are already on the verge of starvation.

I know. I'm the mom who leaves literature lying around the house about parasitic worms for her children to read.

She took the information on worms very easily. It was much harder for her to understand how a cute little bunny could provide "nourishment."

What I loved was her immediate connection to the other catalogs.

"Mommy, did you know that for less than the cost of a new American Girl doll, we could by a goat for a family who didn't have enough food. That goat would give them milk that they could drink, and they could sell some and get the things they need. For less than the cost of 1 doll!"

With all the animals in it, this is the new 'in demand' catalog with the kids. Silje, David, and even Elias will take turns looking at it. David will often ask Silje to read it to him.

They have not asked for 1 new toy since this catalog entered my house. Suddenly the list of things they're saving for is changing.

I'm just thought I'd share this new revelation this year of the blessing of the FFH gift catalog...in case any of you other mothers like me are dreading the bombardment of marketing to our children in this upcoming Christmas season.

Yarn Along

2011-11-01T23:00:00.001-05:00

Well, for this week in Ginny's Yarn Along you're still seeing the Dirk sweater, and the Buttercup diaper soaker. I can't believe I'm still on these projects, but it's just the way it is. The Dirk Sweater is now in the "Ninja Phase" as I like to call it. My goal was to get this sweater done for the pattern pictures by October 31st, and I missed that mark. I haven't been knitting as much as I like, but I'm still getting pieces here and there. I think there's a very good chance that these sleeves will be done by next Wednesday's knitting post.

The Buttercup soaker in size medium was done, but after I had Solveig wear it for a day, I didn't like how it gapped a bit by her back, so I'm making some slight changes to the waistband to make it more elastic. There's strings everywhere by the waistband and it isn't ready to look pretty for the camera so I covered up that part.

As far as the reading, A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns is my high literature these days. My mind has been too full of things that when I sit down to read, it's not a story or a magazine, but paging through hundreds of stitch patterns. I've started making notes on many pages, and ideas in the margins. It's been my daydream time.

After harvest ended, Knut knew I really needed to get out of the house without the kids for a little bit. I brought up that I miss going to the knitting night at our local yarn shop. So last Thursday I got to sit and knit, while surrounded by lovely yarn and fun ladies. The new manager there kept calling me "the designer" and wants me to help teach a class on the Clara Cowl sometime. She also helped me get it set up to sell my one paid pattern there, and any others in the future that come out. I was so flattered.

The owner's daughter stopped by and they told her about the wool diaper covers I knit. She had been searching for some wool covers and ended up ordering some custom shorties for her little baby, and picked out the super soft yarn you see in the picture. I need to cast those on soon.

Hangin' On

2011-11-01T09:05:00.000-05:00

Yesterday for Halloween, I had a major mom-fail. We were going to carve pumpkins. We were going to do a pumpkin craft. I had all of these great plans. None of them happened until Knut got home and we went to a fall festival party and then went trick-or-treating to a few neighbors who expect us each year. (Great-grandparents, etc.)

Solveig was still recovering from the overstimulating and routine crushing weekend. I don't regret the weekend, but it's often the little ones who pay the price. I tried all morning to get her down for her morning nap. We have a routine to get a fresh change, swaddle her tight, nurse or snuggle her, and then lay her down. I did our routine and she would not sleep. So I snuggled her longer. She started getting drousy so I laid her down and she was screaming once again.

I worked with her for over 2 hours. I have let my babies cry before, but I don't like them crying if I can avoid it. What mother does enjoy crying, really? Sometimes crying lets them sort themselves out. Sometimes crying gets them more worked up and crazy. After 2 hours of fighting her to sleep, I let her cry for about 30 minutes. She did not fall asleep and the other kids were desperately needing me at that point. So I brought a sleepy, cranky baby downstairs and tried to get the other kids what they needed from me. At that point I did not feel it was wise to bring out the mess of pumpkin carving, as Solveig would scream whenever I put her down.

She's normally a very happy baby, just so you know. She's not sick, she was just overtired. Overtired is a very frustrating place to be.

Then came afternoon. Normally her afternoon nap isn't as good, but since her morning nap was non-existent, I figured she needed to sleep. So we did the routine. I laid her down. Then I let her cry. I didn't know what else to do, but I did not have my whole day to hold her to offer her. Hearing her cry shook me to my core, as it should have. Not that it's wrong to let her cry, but it almost feels like I feel what she feels, and that way she's not as much alone.

If she would have been contentedly in the Ergo, I would have held her. She was at the point where she was crying when I was holding her just as much as she was crying when I laid her down. She was just so tired.

She never fell asleep. By the time Knut got home for us to go to all of our activities for the night, I was physically shaking. She wasn't crying that whole time, but she was very clingy, and so sleepy. The other kids were acting like their mom was just making do with them for the day, and I was crying because I, who hardly ever plan fun activities, had planned a whole day of fun activities and had been able to do none of them.

Well, Knut helped the kids into their costumes. I was looking forward to using the swap a face out in photoshop to fix a few expressions, but this was actually everyone's best.

The evening was lots of fun. From left to right: dragon, dancing tiger, cow(horse), and firefighter. I say cow(horse) because the package said horse on it, but this horse had no mane and had the tail of a cow. I guess some of those costume people don't know the difference between those 2 animals. City people...

This year Silje's costume was pulled from the dress up box which includes dance recital outfits from cousins. (I think she's worked that black and pink dress into the last few years' worth of costumes.) David's costume was from the after-halloween costume box that I bring out this time of year. When the costumes get really cheap after halloween, I pick up a few for the following year, or for our year round dress up. Elias' costume was $4 from Goodwill, and Solveig's was an after Halloween sale for $1 last year. It was a bit snug on her.

Today is much better. Solveig is actually playing on the ground, and the older kids have been so helpful, besides the fact that they're asking for candy every few minutes. There was one morning meltdown when the answer to "can I have candy for breakfast" was "no."

Today is Tuesday, and that means errands in town, homeschool group, and choir practice. As much as I want so badly to stay at home, I know that what the older kids' need is to go in. I know we need groceries. They've been hanging with me through all the craziness, that they should get their "fun day" and I can't bear to take it from them.

Today I'll actually get our weekend unpacked, diapers washed and house picked up. At least I'll try. "This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it." "His mercies are new every morning. Great is Thy faithfulness." Somedays it's good to recite Scripture.

An egg would really help in the attitude department today. Today our chickens are 6 months old. Yesterday when I checked on them I saw that they had pushed the fake eggs out of each nesting box that I was told to put there to entice them to lay there. They had somehow moved all the fake eggs over to the door, so when I peeked in, I saw a small collection of eggs. Nice try girls. You can't make bail with fake money.

I'm Blessed

2011-10-31T00:01:00.003-05:00

Well, we just got back from a quick weekend down in the big city. Knut's aunt offered us her Rainbow playground set if we'd pick it up. Knut's cousin was being confirmed as well, so we thought it would be a good weekend for a visit.

Sunday morning, I heard from my mom that my grandpa was being taken by ambulance to the stroke hospital as he woke up with very shallow breathing and unable to speak. It seems that he's had a "mini-stroke" and will hopefully be on the mend. Knut and I are learning with several elderly grandparents that it takes a while for people in their late 80s to mend. He had a stroke 2 years ago, which he bounced back from slowly, but not completely.

It was ironic that we were attending a confirmation that day. It was my grandpa who did my confirmation of the knowledge of the faith. When I was of confirmation age, we went to a community church that did not do confirmation, so my mom had me visit my grandparents about every other weekend for one on one study with my grandpa, the retired missionary. How many middle schoolers get to sit one on one with someone with such rich experience in faith and just talk about God, the Bible, doctrine, and faith? Not enough, I know that much.

This morning, the blessings I'm counting are:

-my grandpa. It feels like I'm losing him piece by piece as he seems so much older with each visit. He may be one of the most influential men in my life, and I'm so blessed to be his granddaughter. I'm so thankful he is still with us, as I'm so anxious to see both him and Grandma this Christmas.

-a new playground for my kids. I know it sounds petty next to Grandpa, but it will be put to good use by my kids, and we're lucky to have gotten it.

-time with family over the weekend. It was nice to get away, be in a city and buy things I don't need at Ikea. (Where I ran into a friend/blog reader! Hi Kari!)

-harvest is done. Knut was home very early on Thursday, had all of Friday off, and took the kids and I away for the weekend. It's so amazingly wonderful to have another adult around. It's so nice to have adult conversation. The whole way back from the city we dreamed and made plans for our 10 year anniversary trip next summer. At this point we're leaning towards Norway. We'll see.

If you'd like to join in as we battle Monday with remembering how we are blessed, leave a comment on how God has been blessing you, or leave a link to your post on blessings.

Homeschool Friday

2011-10-28T06:41:00.000-05:00

I had an epiphany this week about our various curricula. You may laugh.

We are not made for the curriculum, the curriculum was made for us.

The curriculum is there to help me when I'm lost. It is not there to decide where to go.

Last year, when we were just starting out on our homeschooling journey, I studied curriculum choices like you wouldn't believe. I looked at reviews, asked my friends, read books on differing schooling theories. I weighed costs of different programs both in time and money. Many days after school, Knut would say "Don't fall behind in the curriculum." We were both still very attached to the traditional classroom type model of school. The model where there are desks and teacher's manuals, and scripts, and worksheets, and schedules. I like all those things, so I'm not discounting them. I just saw them as "school" and now I see them as tools for school. They're there if I need them.

It happened Monday morning. Well, I should back up to the previous Saturday. Silje got a letter in the mail from the little girl we have contact with in Peru. She wanted to write back right away, so she took a piece of computer paper, and started at it.

Last year in our grammar program taught Silje how to write a thank you note, and a friendly letter. It was near the end of the year, and just so barely touched on. This year in grammar, we've been doing review of last year, and slowly going deeper. For instance, last year we found out what a noun was. This year we are deeping that knowledge to proper nouns, common nouns, pronouns, etc. We haven't gone back to letter writing yet.

However, I reacted a bit when I saw Silje's letter to her friend in progress. It looked like this (with some of my editing started):

Now, if this were Elias, or even David for that matter, I'd say good job. One of them barely writes, and the other one scribbles. This type of letter would blow me away from any of my other students. However, this is from my 2nd grader. For my 2nd grader, this is rushed and sloppy. She had missed almost every single capitalization (you're seeing the 'edited' version). She misspelled 4 words that she has previously learned. There was no letter formation or indentation of paragraphs.

I told her that we were not going to send this letter. When she asked why, I probably gave too many reasons. I ended up apologizing to her for coming down so hard, but she seemed fine. She knew fully well that it was not her best work, nor did she claim it was.

The way I see it, if the kids do half-hearted work and I praise them for that, they will continue to give me half-hearted work. The trick to this system is to never miss praising a good job, and never praise them for a bad/sloppy/bad attitude.

In this case, I know it was harsh. Too harsh. Normally I try to limit my critiques to 2-3 things and add some praise. I gave a ton of critiques and the only thing I could find to praise her for was that she was so eager to write the letter. I told her that of course this letter wasn't right because we haven't been working on letter writing or punctuation for months and I haven't exactly been on top of handwriting. I told her that this letter reflected more on me the teacher, than her. I told her I would do better teaching her, so that she can write letters without a worry. She forgave me, and we planned to re-write the letter on Monday for school.

That's when I pushed aside the grammar curriculum, and handwriting curriculum. Not to get behind, but because we simply did not need that tool that day. She didn't want to use the handwriting paper, but was a little afraid to use regular lined paper without the dotted line handicap. I told her I knew she was ready, and she would do great.

I had my knitting in hand and sat right next to her as she meticulously did each letter. She started the date too far over to the right, so the date didn't fit on one line. So we had to start over. My strong girl didn't even flinch and was just happy we were getting to writing the letter.

Here's her hand when I sat next to her. She already knew how to do it, but I just parked myself there to answer any questions she had along the way since it had been awhile. I just said "just do your work carefully like you've learned, and I'll be here if you have any questions."

It's amazing how much the handwriting improved when the only change was a discussion on writing carefully, (along with a few "I know you are capable than better than this") and a bit of personal attention.

That is how my 7 year old is doing. My 6 year old, is a whole 'nother story. I have it all typed out, but I'll spare you the "I feel like I'm flying blind as I'm parenting this child" inner musings. He's doing great at home. He's continuing to read very well, although his readers are taunting me.

He's been reading about hens and eggs and nests all week. It's like the reader is laughing at me.

I felt bad I didn't put the linky up last week with no notice. Feel free to link up if you like!

Dreaming in the Kitchen

2011-10-27T07:15:00.000-05:00

Down the road, we're going to redo our kitchen. My mother in law says I can blame Knut for the cupboards. When he was a little kid he climbed all over the doors and made them a bit askew. It's a fairly nice looking kitchen, and I enjoy cooking in it. I remember my mother in law picked out the wallpaper when Knut and I were dating. I liked it back then, and I still like it. I love the ceiling. It's just one of those details that you don't find in new houses.

Knut's parents salvaged the light fixtures from a one room schoolhouse that was closing at the time. When Knut's little brother, Lars, was still little, he was being tossed in the air by some adult and broke the globes of one of these antiques with his famously hard head. Knut's mom shopped for years in antique shops for a matching light fixture and eventually found one. When they moved into their new house, I think these light fixtures might have been one of the hardest things for her to leave behind.

The ceiling and the light fixtures, and perhaps the wainscoting might be the only thing we keep in the kitchen when we redo it. The floor is white, which isn't the most practical choice for a farm house (or a house with a black, shedding dog for that matter...) but it looks nice next to the dark cabinets. It doesn't matter, though because the floor is slanted, and will need to be completely ripped up and leveled out. The cupboards are also slanted, and several shelves are either weak, cracked, or actually broken. Storing goods in my kitchen is more determined on which shelves will hold the item, more than where I'd look for it first.

So as you can tell, I'm anxious for a new kitchen, but in all serious reality it is still years away. We're not talking about just a fresh coat of paint. It will be gutted and rebuilt. While money is a big delaying factor, so is Knut and I agreeing on what should be done. He wants dark wood cabinets, a dark wood floor, and dark marble countertops. I love dark woods. Love. However, I've always dreamed of a kitchen with light creamy cabinets. However, with any of the men in Knut's family (including Knut), the word "paint" never goes in the same sentence as the word "wood." You might as well be swearing.

I've been paging through decorating magazines and pintrest looking for a kitchen that would inspire us both as we continue to dream. I really like this idea:

(Photo source)

Knut hasn't completely given in, but I suggested that we go with the darker wood floors, which we both love, and go with a darker wood island, and keep the rest of the cupboards light. Knut would like vise versa where the island is light and cupboards are dark. My rational is the island will get scuffed and handprints much more than the cupboards, so logically it should be the darker. We still have some years to hash it out.

(Photo source)

This was another inspiration room. Although the beams are lovely, we don't plan on changing our ceiling, and Knut pointed out right away that there's a lot of wasted space in this kitchen. Still, it's got the light cupboards and dark islands, and that's the compromise I'm attempting to make with Knut. He loved the feel of this room, and that made me feel that maybe someday I'll be successful in my attempt to sway.

You know what will also be exciting? A dishwasher...and I don't mean my 7 year old. All of the appliances besides the oven are over 2 decades old, so they'll all be replaced then as well, if they aren't sooner. I want a bigger fridge, and I'm so scared ours will break because a bigger fridge won't fit our current layout. Well, we'd have to make it fit, I guess. Bring out the saw and tear down some cupboards.

Speaking of appliances, the bread that I've been making in the oven seems to get at least one semi-doughy piece in the middle. I resisted at first getting an independent oven thermometer like the book suggests before baking bread. Since I saw at Target that they weren't too expensive, I picked one up and used it for the first time yesterday when I made some rye bread.

So, I thought my oven hasn't been heating up as much as it should, so when the recipe said the oven needed to be at 450, I put it at 475. Then I let it preheat with the thermometer inside. Turns out, when my oven is set to 475, it's actually only 340 degrees in there. So I maxed out the oven that tops off at 550 degrees. That raised the temperature inside to 427 degrees. So I baked the bread at that temperature and it turned out even better than before.

And it explains why my food seems to take so long to get done, and I'm constantly adding 5 minutes here, 10 minutes there to recipes. We heard that it's oftentimes just the burners that need replacing, and I think Knut is going to look into that. Hang on you electronics! We need just a few more years from you! Just a few more years!

Yarn Along

2011-10-25T23:00:00.002-05:00

Huge strides have been made this week in the medium size of the buttercup soaker/wool wrap for Solveig. After I get the ribbing on the edges and buttons on, we'll see if this pattern is any sort of decent fit. I love the linen stitch. It's so thin and dense, and the wrong side looks as cool as the right side.

I'm sharing Strawberry Girl again, as it's been the most interesting read I've done in awhile. It's bringing out my Southern drawl and is exposing Silje to some serious situations. Through this story she is seeing how alcoholism effects a whole family, what poverty looks like, and the "fruits" of hard work. I'm still a bit thrown by this book for kids that handles these huge themes with such simplicity. I can see why it's on so many book lists. I think from the cover I was expecting something more along the lines of Strawberry Shortcake syrupy sweetness, and this is so far from that. Not only that, but I think a boy would easily enjoy it as much as a girl.

If you'd like to see more knitting and reading inspiration, follow the link to Ginny's to see the party.

Harvest and Chickens

2011-10-25T07:00:00.002-05:00

Well, it's looking as though harvest will be done this week. Knut says they're working on the last field today. It will be good to have him home every once in awhile now. I'll have to say goodbye to my Jane Austen movies until next spring and say hello to some actual face to face conversation with an adult on a daily basis.

That doesn't mean at all that Knut is done for the year. That just means that soon he might be home to tuck the kids in to bed at night. He might even make it for supper.

The air is magical when I go out at night to close in the chickens. I normally go out at sunset and the sky is full of colors, what is left on the trees is full of colors. The black soil and the black sillouette of the trees whispers of the season next on our roster. Winter is void of the rainbow except for the occasional sun dog on the very harsh days. It's like living in a vintage photograph with an occasional blue sky painted on the film.

I remember seeing my first sun dog. I was trying to figure out why there was a rainbow next to the sun when I was driving into town one morning. Maybe God knew that it wasn't just in times of flood that people need reminders that it won't last forever.

I don't mean to be grumbling about the upcoming season. Winter is by far the favored season in this household. David and Knut get the most giddy about it. Silje and I are both excited to read a book next to the fire which is constantly going in the wintertime. We've only gotten a taste of the fireplace going in the mornings lately, but soon adding wood to the fire will once again be my favorite chore of the day. Even knitting obsessed, homeschooling, stay at home mom can be a bit of a pyro at heart.

The chickens have officially been placed under house arrest until they make bail. I check on them twice a day to make sure their food and water supply are adequate. There's 17 chickens in there and one of them better lay an egg.

From everything I read, the longer it takes for them to lay an egg, the healthier they are, and they will have more productive egg producing years. At this point it doesn't feel like I'm pushing a teenager to have a baby as much as it feels like I'm trying to convince a 30 year old to go on a date. Knut is certain they've been laying in the woods in spite of the fact that I've been keeping them cooped up until noon every day. Well, we've taken away their afternoon time now.

4-6 months. They're supposed to start laying between 4-6 months. They hatched right around May 1st, so November 1st will be 6 months. I know they're not overdue, but I thought that at least a few of them would start laying by now. If I were them, I'd start laying before Knut is home after the harvest. He may want to get food from them one way or the other.

We never dreamed that harvest would be done and we still wouldn't have eggs yet. Of course, the guys always aim to get harvest done by Thanksgiving. This is crazy early to be done.

I'm Blessed

2011-10-24T00:20:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry I didn't put a little linky gadget up last Friday. I've been on the fence about making that a "thing" just because sometimes I don't always want to write about that, and sometimes I don't need to write about that. Anyway, that discussion is for another time.

Today I am writing about how God has blessed me, in my continued quest to praise Him for His active involvement in my life. I'm trying to step back from praising God when I feel like it, and starting to praise Him because that's what He deserves. Because it's an honor.

I praise Him for the little things, not so I get the little things. I'm one who believes that God cares about the little things. I think He cares about bills, about truth, about jobs, about children. The God who designed the inner workings of a cell cares about the little things.

I think God delights in blessing us. I think God knows when we need him more than any material blessings He could bestow. That does not mean that he doesn't care about the material. That just means that if we are chasing the material, we are missing the treasure.

Here's my list for the week:

-I'm blessed with flannel sheets. I love flannel sheet weather.

-I'm blessed with a very smiley baby.

-I'm blessed that I'm continuing to see my kids grow in maturity, and the amazing conversations we are having.

-I'm blessed with this beautiful setting.

-I'm blessed with a husband who teaches me so much about love. I love him so much it scares me sometimes. I think that love like this is too great. It's too deep. Surely one of us will die, or something tragic will happen to separate us because this love still overwhelms me. Then God whispers to me, that He gave me Knut to teach me about His love. God's love is the deepest, the widest, the strongest.

I don't have it all together, and nothing that I have listed is something I deserve because I'm just that great. If you knew the sins I struggle with, the cowardice I sometimes show, the pride that comes out other times. If you knew my temper, knew what a slob I can be, not to mention scatterbrained, you would know that these blessings were not from my works, but something God gave to me as a gift.

I know these posts maybe get preachy, and that's not my mission. I don't think anyone ever intends to sound preachy. Maybe they make someone feel sad, although no one has ever said that, I can't tell you how much I worry about that. I have people I complain with, don't we all? That's not for right now, though. Right now is Monday morning, and time to wake up to some praising (instead of the grumbling I can too easily do this special, exhausting day of the week).

How have you been blessed? Instructions on how to link up are on the button on the right. As always, I love to read those comments most especially today too!

Homeschool Friday

2011-10-21T07:00:00.017-05:00

Silje has been reading a lot this week. There have been a lot of "Can I read just one more chapter?" asked to me when I've been swamped and I nod and send her off to read one more chapter. I don't know why I feel guilty about that, but I do. As I review the week I'm trying to figure out if Silje did "enough" because I have this guilty feeling.

In my review I see that she did plenty of school work. My guilt lies in that she did not do as much with me as I like her to. She's an excellent independent worker, and I never want to give her the short end of my stick because she's smart enough to make up for it. O, why do motherhood and guilt always seem to go together?

She's whipping through Chinese. I make her do 2 of the "lessons" on the computer, but she is allowed to do them as many times as needed to pass. Last year it would take her 3-4 tries (a few days) to pass a lesson. This year she doesn't just do 2 lessons a day, she passes 2 lessons a day.

We've been on top of reading, math, Latin, Bible, and history. I've not been on top of grammar, science, arts and crafts, and handwriting. Wow. Seeing that written out doesn't seem so bad. She's reading Understood Betsy which was a read aloud last year that we didn't get to, and I saved for an independent reader for her this year. It's a tough book for her, but she's determined. I've been checking her comprehension and she's been getting it.

David really likes Stink: Solar System Superhero, the book I got at the library to help get him into reading. The book is full of fart jokes and general silliness. I hate it. He loves it, and actually asks me to read it to him every day. There's no more fight over read-aloud time.

There must be a better compromise.

I'm going to finish it. There's actually some decent knowledge in there about the debate on whether or not Pluto can be considered a planet. I'm sure that I can slowly move him to books of higher quality, but for now, we're getting a reading rhythm established.

I saw another victory for David this week. We went to homeschool group on Tuesday and David is in the same group as Silje this year. The kids got to sit in a sanctuary and listen to Bach be played live on an organ, and studied the life of Bach as well. I was in the nursery with Solveig and it was my first time not walking David through homeschool group as he tends to reject getting involved in sitting type activities.

I asked him if he wanted to go to do the music lesson with Silje or come to the nursery with me, and he picked the music lesson. Victory. Not only that, but I peeked in on him several times and he was sitting with other boys and was raising his hand and was involved. Well, he wasn't always sitting with the other boys. He moved around a lot, which is typical for him. Sometimes he got up and walked around and then sat down in a different spot alone if he was feeling a bit overwhelmed. Fortunately that type of behavior is very okay in this setting. By the end of the homeschool group time, he was actively engaged in Bach Jeopardy.

It's not that David's antisocial. It's that he wants to do what he wants to do and doesn't want to follow the crowd or speak in a group setting. To see him sit with boys he didn't know well, raise his hand and say a few words in front of the group, and go along with the lesson when he'd rather be in the gym was a really neat thing for me to see. It is so neat to see his growing maturity in action.

Not only that, but before homeschool group, we were invited out to a restaurant with some cousins of my mom's (3 guys) who were driving through town on their way back from my Great-Aunt's funeral. David sat next to one of them, ordered from the menu and spoke to the waitress himself, and held a conversation with these men without issue, whining, or hiding behind me. When he finished his food first, he did not pester me to get up and leave because he wanted to go. He and Silje sat and chatted with us 4 adults. (Solveig was with us too. Elias was taking a nap at Grandma's. Thanks Linda!)

Talking to adults is not usually an issue for Silje, but it is for David, and I was so much fun to sit and enjoy a time at the restaurant together.

Happenings

2011-10-20T13:08:00.002-05:00

This morning Knut took Elias to go riding with him and Grandpa out in the field. He should have fun in the tractor and combine. It has been a peaceful morning minus our almost 3 year old. I hate to say it, but it's been so quiet.

I've been keeping the chickens "cooped up" until noon every day to see if they've been laying elsewhere in the morning. Still no eggs. If there still aren't eggs by the end of the month, I'm keeping them cooped up with food and water until I see eggs. I've threatened them with this several times but they think I'm bluffing I think. I'm not bluffing. I can take away their yard. I'll do it too. They're supposed to start laying between 4-6 months. They will be 6 months at the end of this month, so I have certain expectations here backed up with months worth of feed costs that I was thinking I'd recuperate at some point.

I know...I just need to be patient.

Knut said that corn harvest may be done before Halloween this year. I don't remember it ever being done that early. Normally the weather stops them for a few days. I think he's glad he'll have plenty of time to finish putting wood up for the winter. We've started burning wood 2 days ago now, and we have plenty for about a month or so. I'm not running the fireplace all day yet, but it's become (once again) the favorite room in the house to do schoolwork in.

The upside to harvest is that I get lots of time in the evening to do whatever I darn well please. I finally got Photoshop and I've been playing around with picture editing. I haven't figured out how to round the edges of my pictures on there yet, so you'll have to put up with pointy corners on the blog until then. I really need to redo my header one of these nights. I have no clue why it's been blurry.

I can watch as many Jane Austen movies in a row as I like without any male influence rolling his eyes, and that's precisely what I've been doing. Knitting and watching movies.

My knitting has been suffering from a bit of ADD. I'm trying to get the Dirk sweater written up by the end of this month to send off to Knit Picks for distribution. Now that it's a "have to" I've stalled a bit, but I have no doubt I'll get it done in time. I've finished the 2 custom cowl orders I've had. My aunt wanted 2 of them, and I made them a bit longer than the original pattern as requested. I do mean to get some of these in my store. I bought some super soft yarn to do just that. I blame the KADD (Knitting Attention Deficit Disorder). Now that these are done, I should be able to add another cowl into my knitting rotation.

The original pattern can be found here. These cowls were made with 5 pattern repeats instead of 4, which made me dip into a second skein of yarn, but it was sooo worth it. They're just lovely.

In addition to finishing the pattern stuff for the Dirk, finishing the Clara Cowl orders, and playing around with the Miss Serina design, I've finished a new pattern prototype. It just needs some snaps and possibly a little embroidery on the back.

I ordered some gray snaps to use on it, and I'm thinking of embroidering a little gray baby elephant on the butt. This sample is made in size small because I've learned I like to make prototypes in small sizes because I tend to redo parts quite often, and it's just faster. One of my sister in laws was commenting how she's trying to find a nighttime cloth sleep solution for her twin boys as they are wet in the morning no matter what she has tried.

After our conversation, my mind was whirling over a densely woven cover that would be good enough for heavy wetters, but cute enough to wear whenever. So this design was born. It's named the "Buttercup" and was named by Silje "because it's for the butt." She cracks me up sometimes.

So I cast on a size M for Solveig so that I can try it out on her before I make 2 larges for my nephews and hopefully find a solution to the nighttime diapering conundrum. I plan to sell the pattern, and offer it for anyone who wants to sell them in their etsy or hyenacart stores, as I don't see myself being able to make a lot of these. I'm having so much fun designing now. I'll probably have them in my store on occasion, and always have custom orders open.

The one I'm making for Solveig I'm going to use buttons instead of snaps just so that I have pictures for the pattern of what that option would look like. I'm using some of my pretty pink wool that I bought for my store, but people seem to prefer the gender neutral colors, I guess.

I'm not sure what to do with the prototype one, as it has a few technical knitting errors in it, and so I'm not so keen on putting it in my store. I'll probably hang onto it for a rainy day.

And that's what's happening here.

Yarn Along

2011-10-19T00:29:00.000-05:00

I'm keeping it simple this week for the Yarn Along. Ginny is our hostess, so stop on over her blog if you like for some knitting eye candy, and never disappointing photography.

I'm reading Strawberry Girl with Silje. It's not what I had expected from this book, but I still like it. I'm reading Stink: Solar System Superhero with David. Out of this world success. (Hardy-Har-Har). Thank you public librarian for your recommendation of a book my son would actually sit through. I cannot wait to share with you one of these weeks a book I'm reading for me.

This is bamboo sock yarn sitting on top of my design notebook. This is a preview of my "Miss Serina Cardigan" that I'm making for Silje. I've only redone the top about 4 times, but I think the design is finally how I like it. I was having a lot of indecision for the front of the design and had an epiphany about it just yesterday. I cannot wait for you to see the finished product.

I'm also very relieved that I won't have to start it over until I'm making the version for me. Yes, after this cardigan for Silje, (only her 3rd mama-made-cardi, not counting shrugs or anything) and after this I'll finally make one for me. I've already splurged on some sa-weet Madelinetosh yumminess in the color "ginger" that is all wound into balls and being admired in a bowl on my dining room table until it's turn comes up.

My Top 10 Grocery Budget Tips

2011-10-18T07:00:00.001-05:00

I've been trying to assemble my tips and tricks to making a grocery budget work. This seems to be an ever-increasing challenge as prices seem to be growing.

However, making a budget work doesn't require that you stock up on cheap $1 pizzas and Ramen noodles. I'd say that most of the time when our family goes cheaper, it's the healthier option anyway.

I'm not much of a coupon queen. It's not that I don't have the time to cut/print them because if I really wanted to, I probably would make time. The 2 main reasons that I don't are: I can't keep them organize or remember I have them at the store no matter what kind of system I try, and second: most coupons are for name brand, processed foods. I find that buying generic or making it myself is the same or cheaper than using a coupon.

There are some rare instances where coupons come on what I buy and the checker scans it for me. Sometimes there's a coupon for real food like potatoes or eggs, and I'll take advantage of that if I can overcome the "I forget I have them when I get to the store" challenge. Why do I forget? I'll give you 4 squirmy reasons and a wall of candy conveniently placed at check-out as my reason.

I do find that when I shop at my local mom and pop grocery store, they'll often say "There was a coupon for this in the paper. Here, I have an extra." While I do shop for groceries at Walmart sometimes as well, I certainly don't get that "I have an extra coupon" service there, and I'll say without a doubt that I prefer the fruits and vegis at the mom and pop place over Walmart's produce. There's just no comparison.

So besides coupons, here's what I attempt to do (although these rules are often broken, which often breaks the budget as well.):

One:
Eat all the leftovers. Uneaten leftovers aren't just wasted food. They're wasted money. I have a few recipes that use up bits and scraps. This time of year almost any leftover can be thrown into a basic homemade soup. I often use leftovers fried up with rice and soy sauce on a skillet. We call that fried rice. Ingredients: a meat (eggs count) a vegi, rice, soy sauce, and olive oil as needed. If I have any of those ingredients as leftovers, this is a quick meal. Knut often gets packed leftovers for lunch. It's really the best way to clean the fridge.

If you are getting sick of some leftover, package it up for the freezer and pull it out when you need a quick meal. I often will make a triple batch of something and freeze all the leftovers so they don't even make it to the fridge. That way you can pull them out in 2 weeks or a month when you haven't eaten that meal in awhile and all you have to do it warm it up.

Two:
Meal plan. When I'm really on top of this, I'll even plan in the snacks. If you need cheap, healthy, snack ideas, I consistently go to the Healthy Snacks on the Go ebook. It's a great resource combining organization, frugality, and healthy recipes. Granola is our new favorite, but that's for another post. As ski season is approaching, I'm going to try her recipe in there for homemade power bars ad Knut goes through those a lot while training.

I'm finding that for me, the snacks made in here are about the 1/3 cost on average to buying them at the store. Grocery budgets are ruined when we get a pizza because I have no clue what to make, or we're in town during snack time and the kids need something now and I didn't plan for it. When I see an overview for the week, I can alternate more expensive meals with cheaper ones so that we don't feel too deprived or anything. It helps to not make heavy meals back to back.

Three:
Make a grocery list and stick to it. This goes along with meal planning. Sometimes I'll make a list with the sales ad in front of me, and other times I don't. The main thing is to stick to the list in the store. Never ever shop from the end of a row where the price is big and bold. Making the font bigger does not make it cheaper. Sometimes if I want that item, I'll go to that aisle, and see that the "end cap" brand was the most expensive version of whatever that item was. Stick to the list like a grocery shopping Nazi following orders. There are only 3 things that I'll vary from the list for if they're on a good sale: meat, butter, and cheese. Shredded cheese can be frozen well, so that makes all 3 of those items easy for me to stock up on, and we use all 3 of them all the time. Around holiday time I'll break the rules for chocolate chips as well because we go through bags of those like nothing else at Christmas baking time.

Four:
Make your own bread. I promise, it's not as hard as you think. It tastes way better, it's healthier, and it's a fraction of the price. If you have the time, there is no downside here. I've used a breadmaker for about the last 3 years (it paid for itself in about 2 months but probably less), and have not used it since I got the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day book. It literally is 5 minutes a day, and I'm doing less dishes than when I used my breadmaker. I think the bread tastes better than my breadmaker as well, and the waiting from setting it out to rise to eating it is less than the breadmaker. So I can throw it in "last minute" a little easier.

They do say you should use a cooking stone, but I've been using a cookie sheet and it's turned out just fine. I just got a stone last week, but I just wanted to say for the record that you don't have to have all the tools they suggest on hand in order to make that kind of bread.

I've been making 2 different types of bread a week and storing the dough in my fridge. This type of breadmaking does not require kneading...it's that fast. So Saturday I make the 2 doughs so we have variety during the week. (This week it's regular white and oatmeal pumpkin sandwich bread.) The kids help me stir the dough right in big Rubbermaid fridge containers and love it. About 2-3 hours before I need the bread, I take it out of the fridge, rip off a portion of dough for the day, shape it quick with flour and let it rise a few minutes (depending on the recipe) until it goes in the oven.

So far we haven't had a loaf make it to day 2, so I can't tell you how it keeps. I can tell you it's super yummy, and it's pennies and minutes to make.

Five:
Make your own yogurt. This idea came from Katie at Kitchen Stewardship as well. The lady is a genius. It's so stinkin' easy. Yogurt makes a healthy snack, breakfast, or frozen dessert. I try to make this only once a week, and it can be done after the kids go to bed. I normally make it when I'm watching a movie at night. I do one step before the movie, and another step after the movie, and then I put it in the cooler/incubator for the night and in the morning it goes in the fridge to cool. Again, this is not a lot of time or money. It's not a little bit cheaper than store-bought. It's a small fraction of the price than store-bought. We eat it with honey, frozen fruit, homemade granola, and I use it for baking a lot as well. I sub it in any recipe that calls for buttermilk.

Six:
Make your own stocks. This feeds into the whole "use all your leftovers" rule as well. This is something that I throw together in the morning, let cool in the afternoon, and divide up in the evening. That being said, it's not an all day job. More like a "fix it and forget it for a few hours" job.

For clarification, a broth is meat bones boiled dark. A stock is meat bones, as well as vegis and whatever else you fine boiled until dark. Many broths/stocks that are store bought have a very high salt content. That is because they are being smart businesses and using the cheapest ingredients. I prefer flavor to saltiness, so I make my own and it is cheaper than the salty stuff at the store.

Here's how you do it:
-get some bones. For beef broth I get beef bones at the store, and often throw in a beef liver because they're cheap and full of nutrients too. I don't like the texture of liver so don't eat it, but it's great in beef stock. For chicken stock add chicken bones. If you have access, add the guts and neck or anything else you can find cheap that is chicken related at the store. After Thanksgiving, I always make a turkey broth from the turkey carcass and use that in recipes that call for chicken broth. I do this so I don't have to feel bad about not cleaning the meat off the bones very well off the turkey because that gets tedious at some point.

-Next add some vegis. Use whatever you have on hand and don't feel you need to go to the store if you're missing something. I use unions, garlic, carrots, celery if I have it. Your vegis should be clean and roughly chopped, but there is no reason to peel, slice, dice, or leave out the papery outsides. Shove it all in. We'll suck the life out of it. Avoid creamy vegis like potatoes or corn.

-Next throw in some spices. I find that chunky salts like sea salt or kosher salt work well in stocks because they gradually work their way into the stock and don't just sit on top. The same goes for peppercorns instead of ground pepper. I like to add a sprig of thyme and/or parsley. I find a bay leave or 3 are good in the beef stocks. Just don't add a spice that you wouldn't want in every single recipe you'll use this stock for. Keep it generic because you can always add spice when making the actual meal.

-Lastly cover everything in the pot with water until it's very full and boil for hours until it's the color you want it to be. Let it cool, strain, and put in freezer bags or whatever containers you use for the freezer. I like to freeze in 1 or 2 cup portions and I always label! As our family is getting older I find myself reaching for the 2 cup bags more often, so that's what I'm doing now. Freeze flat in the freezer and stack them up for when you need them. This practice is not "a bit cheaper" than store bought, it's pennies on the dollar to store bought. Not only that, but you will immediately taste the difference. Knut can taste when I've cheated and bought broth at the store with the first bite.

What do you use stocks for? Gravy, soups, stir fries, sometimes casseroles or making a seasoned rice. I also like to make some biscuits and then use this to make some sauce and add some cooked ground beef to the sauce, pour it on top of the biscuits and it's a really quick meal.

Seven:
Make noodles. Homemade noodles is a new project of mine. I will blog about this more later and come back to this post and add a link telling how it's going.

Eight:
Make crackers. We've switched from buying graham crackers and wheat thins to making them at home. They take almost no time. Buying a box of either one of these is about $2.50. Making the same amount is about $1. Seriously, like many of the other things listed above, you will slap your forehead and think to yourself "I've been paying someone to make this for me?!?"

What I love about making crackers is that it isn't as hard to roll out or manage as cookie dough or even bread dough. It doesn't require the mess of lots of flour like some other rolling foods. This means that the kids can help with this one and my kitchen recovers that much faster!

Nine:
Always look at the "price per oz" on the tag at the store, not the total price. You'll be surprised what things in bulk are actually more expensive, and what brands cost how much. I never, ever shop by the big price in the bold numbers. I shop looking at the small price per oz numbers in the upper left hand corner. It makes an enormous difference.

Ten:
Cut down on cereal consumption. My kids love cereal. Love might be an understatement, especially when it comes to the boys. The reality of it is, cold cereal is about the most expensive breakfast we have in this house, even when we get the generic stuff in the bag. So a few days a week, we're swapping cold cereal for one of the hot kinds. Eggs are cheaper. Oatmeal is cheaper. Steel cut oats in the crockpot overnight are cheaper. Toast is cheaper. Cream of wheat is cheaper. Pancakes are cheaper. Don't get the instant oatmeals because there's an insane amount of sugar and it's not cheaper. Dish up 1/3 cup of oatmeal, 2/3 cup of water, brown sugar, or whatever cinnamon or the like, some frozen fruit or dried fruit or cut up apples, and stick in the microwave for a minute and a half. It doesn't get more instant than that.

We get more full and don't require as much food for snack later. Knut has eggs scrambled with spinach, peppers, cheese and tomatoes almost every morning. If he has anything else for breakfast, he is always hungry before noon.

So that's it. Most of things on this list will not require much time, but they do require planning and that's normally the tough part. It's an exercise in organization, but one that is well worth it.

Other ideas for budgeting groceries can be found over at Raising Olives.

I'm Blessed

2011-10-17T00:01:00.003-05:00

It's Sunday night when I'm writing this, and the very first thing that comes to mind as I count my blessings is that I got a nap today.

That's just the beginning, but that's the lovely feeling putting an overcast on my writing today: rest.

I got Knut all to myself on Sunday. Well, we went to church, and of course the kids shared him too. There weren't any family functions to attend, there wasn't anything on the calender, and there was a lot of hanging out. Knut insisted that I take a nap since Solveig has been working on some new teeth. Friday night and Saturday night each I got less than 5 hours of sleep with no stretch longer than 1 1/2 hours. By Sunday morning I was a zombie, and Knut sent me up to nap after church. It was one of those really good naps too, where you wake up refreshed and delighted. I normally wake up from napping feeling groggy and cranky, so I normally avoid the practice.

I can't tell you how amazing it is to have another adult around the house. He did the job we both hate: cleaning up the playroom with the kids. He actually did the dishes too. It wasn't a work day by any means, but I feel so caught up and refreshed to start off the new week.

Other blessings this last week:
-One point in the sermon giving me food for thought for the week on loving God with my mind. My mind is often all over the place, and the point I caught was talking about setting aside the energy to think about our prayers, and not go through our day in a rote style religion. The fact that I was able to catch any point of the sermon when I was so tired catches my attention because it is so directly a work of the Holy Spirit. The thought grasped will be such good kindling for prayer this next week.

-One of my blog readers (who is also a real-life friend) read on my post last Wednesday about the hymn I've been pondering. Since it was one of her favorites too, she sent me a music copy in a key that is much easier to play and is in low voice range. I don't know if she knew I'm an alto, but that made me a little giddy. It was a very sweet act of kindness.

-Another friend who lives a few hours away sent me an "I'm thinking of you" package in the mail. Overall it was a great mail week! She sent me some Christmas potpourri, YARN!! and a little craft book and activity for Silje. Seriously, I have amazing friends. This time of year it's so easily for me to feel isolated and some very sweet people reached out to me to encourage me.

That's me. How about you? How have you been blessed this week? Sometimes it's very easy to identify, and sometimes blessings come in unexpected packages. One thing we do know, it's that God gives us the exact blessings that we need. I'd love for you to share how God has been blessing you. You can leave a comment, and/or leave a link to your own blog post on the subject (don't forget to link back to this blog in your post!) and join the party that way. Thank you so much to all of you who have been participating in this each week. It is such an encouragement.

Homeschool Friday

2011-10-14T00:01:00.000-05:00

(used with permission from The Family Man.)

This week was much better. I got some great practical advice from a former single mother (thanks, Mom!) on how to manage this week a little better. I learning that homeschooling skills have less to do with teaching qualifications, and more to do with parenting skills than anything else. So I'll take advice from a non-homeschooling mother because you know what? She knows what she's talking about too. ;)

My mom encouraged me to not make excuses for my kids when they're missing their dad. My mom never let us kids be victims and I'm so thankful for that. She gave us some great skills and always set a high standard, and I hope to do the same with my kids. That's just a side thought, but I don't know if my mom knows how much her words helped me this week. I'd call her and tell her all that myself, but I know she's busy with her big yearly audit at work and maybe this public thank you will make her smile during her break, which doesn't line up with my breaks as often as I'd wish.

So, we got back on track. I got my new spreadsheet all organized, and we've been on a good roll. It's been a HUGE help to write down Silje and David's daily "to do list" in their little composition notebooks. They absolutely love checking things off, and the amount that I have to get them back on track has dropped significantly.

David's now half way through his McGuffey Primer. I'm nervous he's going too fast and isn't retaining as much as I'd like. I'm brainstorming ways to go deeper where he's at.

He's having a tough time breaking out of the "reader" safety zone. He will only attempt to read books from designated readers, and hates it when I ask him what the next word is when I'm reading him a regular picture book. I only ask him that when I know he knows the word, and he just won't do it. However, he reads the cereal boxes/bags, so there you go.

"Mommy, can I have some more 'Great Value Apple Blasts?'" (when I'm pretty sure I called them Apple Jacks)

"David, who told you these were called 'apple blasts?'"

"I read it on the box. It says 'Great Value Apple Blasts.'"

Hmmm...

I asked for a recommendation from our local librarian for a good read aloud for him as Stuart Little is both his and my least favorite part of the day as he's not into it even a little. Following the Sonlight model (but not the curriculum for kindergarten) I like to read aloud a book to him a bit above his reading level.

The librarian pointed me to "Stink: Solar System Superhero." It's about a little boy named "Stink" who saves the solar system, or at least that's my best guess. I'll let you know.

Silje is stressing out over math, which she doesn't need to do. People seem to feel the need to quiz her on math when we're out and about and they find out she's homeschooled. I know...weird. I mean, I completely understand why they do that, but it's always math, and she has it stuck in her head that it's her worst subject and she's bad at it.

People ask her the most off the wall questions and she feels so humiliated if she doesn't know. She's about a half a year ahead of grade level in math, so I'm not the least bit worried, but she still stresses on this subject. I'm realizing this subject is very sensitive to her.

I keep telling her at the beginning of mini quizzes that this is just to show me what she knows, and to get into the habit of trusting her gut. I won't be mad if she doesn't get them all done, or if she does it wrong. Maybe she's stressing out about the curriculum itself, but I think it's teaching her quite a bit. Maybe she just hates math, or maybe she hates tests. I'm not sure. My current plan is to keep pressing on, and making kind corrections if she gets one wrong, and coaching her through.

Chinese is her favorite. I think she just likes being on the computer. I have 2 lessons a day (they're quick...maybe 10 minutes or less) written on her to do list, but 2 times this week she asked if she could do more. Now when I'm cooking she tells me what some of the foods are in Chinese, and I hope that she's right! She could be making up this gibberish for all I know.

The kids have been more imaginative this week, more playful, and better listeners. I don't know if someone has been praying, but it sure feels like it. We still all miss Knut, who's around, but not around. I've taken them to see him more often when his semi pulls up to the grain bins on the far side of the yard. I'm still so pleased to see them all asleep at the end of the day.

I wasn't able to make the monthly "Mom's night out" with my local homeschool support group this yesterday since the kids aren't old enough to be left at home alone (ha!), so I called my friend whose husband happens to be Knut's cousin who also works on the farm. I made myself some coffee and called her up on the phone and we commiserated together. It was wonderful.

For those who like to leave a link to their recent homeschooling posts:

The Babes

2011-10-13T08:26:00.001-05:00

Our little Solveig has now passed the 10 month mark. I am surprised how perfectly she was named "Solveig Joy" as she takes that "Joy" part extremely seriously.

This isn't her normal smile. This is her just being silly. This girl wakes up with a squeal and hugs me as hard as she can. She kicks her legs when she's excited and that's pretty much all the time. She likes to pull books off of bookshelves during school. I let her because it's a diversion. She laughes at Lena, she really laughs at Elias, and she adores the big kids. She is overjoyed when she sees Knut. Overall, I'd say "Joy" is her middle name.

This is her normal smile:

When this girl smiles, she nearly shakes with intensity. Her smile pushes those fat cheeks as best as they can and there's normally a good squeal that goes with that.

I mentioned how much she likes Lena, but I have a photograph showing how much Lena loves her. I was taking pictures of her as she was crawling around. We were in the kitchen and I had not closed our makeshift gate leading to the back hallway which has stairs to the basement. Normally she can't get back here, but since I was standing right there, I thought I'd see what she would do.

Well, Lena was not comfortable with my choice to let her explore the rug while I overlooked. She marched right past us both and parked her body in front of the stairs. If Solveig was going to get to the stairs, she would have to get through Mama Lena first.

Have I mentioned lately how we have such an awesome dog? You can train most dogs to do lots of things. I've only met one other dog (Sunny, who was my step-dad's dog) who was intuitive like this. There's little needs for commands as she just knows what to do.

Elias doesn't like when I take pictures of Solveig and not him. So here's a little Elias love as well:

O, this guy knows how to turn on the charm!

We're finally making strides with his "constant whining" voice that was grating at me for a few months. I've been trying to teach him to speak with a smile on his face, because he has a tough time whining when he's smiling. It's so cute because now when he asks for something he pushes his cheeks up with his 2 pointer fingers and goes, "See, Mom? See?" I think he's very relieved to know how to ask for things now in a way that we'll listen. His frustration level has gone way down now that it's clicked that whining = not getting what you want and asking nicely = better luck getting what you want.

He turns 3 next month. He's done everything differently than the older kids. I'm hoping that "3" will go better this time around!