A few months ago, we had the best family outing!  We saw muskrat, Canadian Geese and more!

But, this is what we had after our outing, and folks, this is the WORST meal we’ve had lately, on record.

I boiled the lentils all day long to soften them….This just in: seven year old lentils never soften. This was a split pea soup, and it had been carefully watched all day long, until the end when, they burned.

“I know”, I thought brilliantly. If I added smoke sauce, it will give that burny taste a bbq taste!

More burny! Now we were in need of more remediation! “I could add macaroni noodles, and it will be a hit.” Added them. “Hmmm…no good”. Maybe if I add cheese powder. Dump. Taste. Dump in more, taste. Nope that didn’t do it. “What if I stir in this home made cream cheese?” (This was when we bought new table and chairs and I was living ridiculously thrifty.)

L It was like pouring gold down the garbage disposal. Somehow, our family muscled through this GREAT big huge bowl of barfo. Guess which child wanted seconds? Yes, one did. Hazel, you probably guessed it.

The sad thing is there was so much of this food, that I turned it into a freezer meal. Of which we are eating tonight. Looks like we better have dessert tonight!

Well, not really, but I just wanted to say thank you to My Bo-Riley-O, for all his loving support and help.  I am going to miss having him wait on me and the kids hand and foot.  Yes I’ve been a princess, but if you had varicose veins where I have them, you might be one too.  So I think we’ll be having Riley save up vacation time in future babies to help out a few weeks, yes that was a plural you saw, whats a girl to do when she has more names in store?  Call me crazy, but I just blame it on the Big Guy, and will hopefully be depending on Him for these Bright (literally) ideas of His.   Including wonderful #4 where we are at right now.

Riley had the great idea to take the kids to a bookstore downtown that has wandering pets, including a chicken, and caged animals, such as rats and lizards and such.  It was so fun, and my favorite moment was watching the kids nestle into his lap on a big chair, while looking at a book.  No I didn’t have my camera, scrap!  I think Aundi and Eirene would so dig the place, open trunks and baskets with books.  We found a book to buy for Kayla for Christmas there, there’s no way around it.

So lets see, Riley also took the kids to the zoo last week, and this week we are having his sweet cousin and family for dinner before, the Big WEDNESDAY, his first day of work.  Well, alas, I have healed up pretty well, and am near better, and r.r…r…ready to jump back into things f…f….f…full board.  Whats the stuttering about you ask?….. Anyways, THE SKY!  (Scotty’s way of evading the question)

Wish me luck with the kiddies and Riley luck on his JOB!

Photo Credit

Well, after a whole summer of praying whether to homeschool or not this year, I realized after some point that it was what I wanted to do. I guess I can’t beat that teacher in me even with a stick if I tried to. But at long last, I received a confirmation of peace, assurance and rightness that it was what was best for both my daughter and I, I questioned what was best for Milly, and FINALLY got that answer, then questioned what was best for me, and got that answer too! ~And luckily and I felt that best wasn’t just what would make me grow the most, but in the less stress sense of the word, if I play my cards right.

So my goal this year is to be relaxed (in the sense that I don’t get my panties in a bundle) and fun about it. I want to do it in a way that the children have a lot of autonomy, and choice. I want to do it in a way that I have a lot of fun~

I am writing a loose schedule so my brain doesn’t have to die of brain cramps and avoid the stressful feeling of “WHAT’S NEXT?”

Movie and Music day: (Kids watch educational movies while I mop! We dance to music while I dance around with George and tap out beats at breakfast!

Kid’s Montessori Day: (I have Montessori hands on activities located conveniently in cupboards where I work, sewing machine, laundry room, and kitchen.)  Tuesday is also ‘computer day’, which is implied in ‘kid’s day’.

Wacky, Wonderful Wednesday: History read-a-loud with lunch, or listen to history cds in car for outings during driving time.  For the wacky part, they get to so something silly, like do a process backwards or something!

Thinking Thursday: Science day, we will go on outdoor adventures, and correlate writing with this, notebooking of nature, researching on the computer or doing a simple inquiry based experiment.

Friday Fun-day: Social outings, P.E. type activities and art projects. (There is a gym we can go together to at nights and Riley can help me to teach physical skills like he did this summer!)

Also within each day are routines I
wrote down so we all know what to expect, and can get some basics done each day, learning obedience in chores, and a few basic drills in math and writing that can fit on a clip board that they choose to line up for themselves at the beginning of the week. Milly reads enough on her own, but I will also have her read to Hazel at nap time.
(Incidentally, what I just realized I need to do next I need to write down exactly what to do when kids aren’t cooperating so I don’t get a high abundance of stress “What do I do now????”)—If you can’t tell, I have a forgetful brain…. And Riley is going to do a lot of Math with the kids, Thank you dear!

To make if fun, I am going to be joining the kids. I have a notebook, and color pencils. I love poetry and drawing and such, and we are going to draw, and write side by side.

I had a test drive yesterday, and found my panties were in a bundle. I sat there, praying in a camping chair with George till I got some answers from God, and I prayed about it and realized, she or I weren’t having enough fun, (just using a worksheet) and two, I wasn’t using enough positive words. I sang some songs, while realizing how great my husband was in reading to the kids while I could chop vegetables, and my anxiety calmed with gratitude and realization of what I needed to change, and I began showering others with praise and felt so happy after this!

I know I will have great joy, if I do this in the Lord’s way.

Here’s whats on tap for next week, check it at Milly’s blog: www.pinkpony.hazubu.com …I am so excited because this has autonomy and delight directed learning built into it, as she chose cardinals!

Before the summer slipped away we had to try grilling corn on the cob~ a Smashing Success!

~Shuck the corn without pulling the husks off. Dress the corn with butter and parsley or whatever sounds delish to you.

~Soak the corn for about 20 minutes in water in your sink, this will help the corn to steam cook.

~Wrap the husk back on and cook on medium on the grill for 20-30 minutes, rotating intermittingly.

~If you don’t have cracks where the husk burns, peel back a little, the corn that gets a little golden and fire on it, tastes the best.

Punched Potatoes

~We had Punched Potatoes with this. Divine. This was a dish Riley became familiar with in Portugal.

~Bake your potatoes. We cooked extra long accidently and this ended up awesome because it gives you crispy skins.

~While they are baking, chop some garlic and put into a liberal amount of garlic oil. Fry, and salt with coarse salt.

~Put potatoes in a bag and punch.

~Pour your garlic oil into the bag and shake to coat potatoes.

These are amazing and go really well with grilled corn!

“Last week it was coconut bombs, this week quick sand, what will it be next?” Riley-the father.

Back ground Story: To make this all fresh and fun for the kids, and so I could just lay there with baby George, all the kids had Mega Bed (Term courtesy Inga) and watched SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON—with POPCORN, of course…

Soon Hazel and Rawl were pirates. All the next week, Rawl invented bombs.  Lincoln log bombs, grass bombs, etc.

The movie also has a quick sand scene.  Following ‘bomb’ week, every comment and question had to do with quick sand.

Rawl: “If we had a family pet, that we didn’t like that much, we could put it in quick sand to see if it sinks.” “A family pet that was almost dying, we could put it in quick sand.”

It shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise to find him in the back yard, making quick sand.

Hannah talking to Milly: “I’ve never heard of the name George!  Your mother must have used her imagination! ”

So, the name George has a number of stories that accompany it.  No imagination Hannah, but a lot of inspiration!

Story #1

As our family began to be ready to expand, I began to feel there was a little boy named George waiting to come.  George?  I don’t love the name George!  But I just felt like this was his name.  Then as we began to pray about the coming of this next one, Milly received a little stuffed dog.  ”Do you want to know what I named him?”  ”What Milly?” “George.”  I scooped her into a hug and said, “Milly, do you know what?  That’s the name of your next baby brother!”

Story #2

I quickly realized about the name George, is that it is the name of the hero in the story of my youth, from my father.  George is a brave and earnest youth, like most of my father’s story heros, and George bravely fights dragons and wins the righteous maiden.  He is smart and hard working.  So George, is named for my own hero, my Dad!

Story #3:

After realizing this was the name of our next baby boy, I begin to realize some other great things about the name George.  I had in the past done some research about George Washington, and found his personality and goodness to be a lot like my brother Merritt.  He had joked about me naming a child after him in our youth, so I informed him that this next  baby would be named after him in a special way, even though its not his name.  My sister named her son Merritt after that, so, truly, we can’t have a family with three Merritts, now can we?  But Merritt, know that George is in a very real way, named for you!  I hope someday Merritt reads a book or two about George Washington so he can see what I mean!  :)

Story #4

While driving in the car, and as we were trying to get pregnant, Riley’s eyes became teary and he told me, we have a son who will be born soon to our family, and he has a great mission.  I smiled, and felt the spirit testify to me that this was true.  ”Its George!” I told him.  (Mums the word about Riley and the tears.)

Story #5

While in the hospital, Riley and I were toying with names still, as we felt like the name George chose us, and we didn’t necessarily choose it.  We even have a name we feel is sensational!  But now we have to wait to use it down the line, because when Riley looked up the name “George” he found “Earth Worker” or “Worker of the Land” and I told Riley every time I pictured the baby, he was wearing overalls and a straw hat.  He was found fishing, or on a tractor, or splashing through puddles with a golden retriever, planting his own little garden or pondering by a pond skipping rocks, from age 4 to 18 or so he always had on this hat and overalls.  Indeed, we had a farm boy on our hands!  An Earth Worker.  But it was still a little hard to give up our other great name, until Riley came up with the middle name Henry, which being close to pioneer day, he was looking for a pioneer’s name from ancestry.com.  George Henry had that masculine ring that sealed the deal happily for us, and George Henry it is!

…And if our George Henry ends up a city slicker, and no farmer, we’ll love him just the same….it was all in guidance to name him George!

We love you George Henry!

This spot will be for the darling movie of the kids meeting George for the first time, that Elena took, when she sends it to me:

Oh Georgie boy, you’re here!

Like bees to the hive, they quickly hovered!

It was a WELCOMING home PARTY!!!!!

Complete with Cake (strawberry rhubarb), Ice cream….

Posters…

And Music!

We love you George!!!

And want to give….A big THANK YOU to Nanna and Auntie Elena for helping to create this beautiful experience!!!!!

See where Mom and Dad sleep, and Baby George and Rawl’s room!

Happy Downstairs:
more…

As each floor gets clean enough for a tour, I will add a tour: