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I think I've settled on here for a new blog home http://educationisanatmosphere.blogspot.com/ Samantha |
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I'm trying out a few new things. I have a new blog http://www.geocities.com/mom2aejs and we are even trying a website educationisanatmosphere.com . The website is still heavily under construction and I only have one blog on the blog site, nothing exciting but I am just spreading my wings a bit and we shall see what happens. |
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Eric had meetings in Montgomery this weekend so the kids & I are spending a nice quiet weekend working on organizing, rearranging, and some minor decorating. There really isn't too much to report right now but I just noticed that I haven't blogged this month so here it is.
We have watched just about every Christmas movie out there, heard every Christmas Carol, decorated trees, decorated stockings, wrapped presents, booked hotel rooms for our annual trek to Philadelphia to visit Uncle Rob, been to local parades & festivals for Christmas, and it has even gotten very cold here. There is not much else to do until the big day arrives so we are taking it slow. I am decorating my room, it's supposed to be a surprise/Christmas gift for my husband but I had to let him in on some of it because I wanted to make sure it was going to be the colors & such that he would enjoy. I was hoping to have it all finished this weekend so when he came home on Sunday then it would be ready but no such luck. Some of the things I ordered will not be here until next week. So I just rearranged & I will put all the new stuff in when everything arrives probably on Wed or Thursday.
I received a book from Paperback Swap called Irish Stories for Christmas by John Keane. Eric & I love Ireland and we both have a bit of Irish in us. He is 1/2, I am much less but we really would love to go one day....Anyway, we have been reading these stories, a fun twist on the run of the mill holiday stories, it's fun to mix it up a bit.
Oh, I forgot to mention my dog...she has been peeing in the house the past 3 days. She doesn't even act like she has to go, she just goes. So yesterday when I am in the throws of rearranging my room, I had ALL of my bedcovers on the floor in the hallway (including pillows) and she proceeded to pee all over everything so I spent last night & this morning slowly washing pillows & comforters. I finally got caught up & she pee'd on Erin's bed!!!! I am so frustrated. So I am cleaning more bedsheets. And of course she didn't have a mattress cover on. That is so gross, I want to just throw out the mattress but I will try to soak it in bleach water first. She just might be getting a new mattress. I hope this will encourage Daddy to hurry up & make her loft bed!
OK, I'm off to address Christmas cards, the one thing I haven't finished. I love getting cards but I don't like sending them, well, addressing them anyway. |
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This is the tree our homeschool group put together to display in our downtown Christmas Village. Isn't it beautiful!
These are all of our cutie pies sitting in front of the finished product.
We have already done our Christmas pictures but I wanted to take pictures of the kids in matching shirts at the beach.
Erin took this picture of me & the rest of the crew.
Aren't they cute? This one should have been the Christmas card. I'm thinking about putting this in black & white & framing for myself. |
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Eric and I have been married 12 years this year (Ann 12/28). Our entire marriage we have moved frequently and he has always worked LONG hours & travelled. I am used to being alone with the kids and truly enjoy the time I do get to spend with him. I have friends but have rarely made a friend that just clicks and that all my kids get along with their kids also. I have dear friends but many are in different seasons of their lives or have chosen to follow a completely different path, this is not a bad thing it just keeps us from being very close. Anyway, this year we made yet another move, this time to Alabama. The last place on earth I ever thought I would live (actually, Alaska is the last place I thought I would ever end up but I am learning to never say never!) Before I even moved here, through the blogs sites, I met a friend that ended up being my neighbor. We both homeschool, have 3 girls (I also have boys that LOVE her girls), both use Charlotte Mason, both of our husbands are always working and we all get along so well. She is heading up our homeschool groups Christmas Tree to be displayed in the center of town w/ the Christmas Village so yesterday we decided to get together to work on decorations for the tree. We made Christmasy snacks (Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie, Christmas cookies, Cheesecake, Hot cocoa), rented Christmas movies and just spent the afternoon together. Other than a few spats between my boys the kids all got along wonderfully, they truly enjoy each others company which allows me to enjoy the company of another mom. I have never been able to do the "Mom's night out" thing b/c hubby is always working. I never thought I was missing anything but an afternoon with a friend is so refreshing. I think she went home exhausted, I talk WAY too much but I had a great time. The timing of this friendship is just perfect and truly a blessing. This was one of those needs that I didn't know I had until it was met. God knew what I needed before I did, always. He is so generous and giving and he is just like a parent, sometimes you just can't wait until Christmas to give that gift that you know they would really enjoy now! |
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It's almost Thanksgiving, which means Christmas is coming, I am so excited about the holidays this year. Last year they were a bit of a drag because we were not together for Christmas. We go to visit Eric's brother in Philadelphia every Christmas. He is handicapped and unable to travel so we go to him. It is not what I had invisioned our Christmas's would be like when we had kids. I had visions of a big tree in our Living Room, lots of toys, everyone racing to the tree Christmas morning, Roast in the oven, family on their way over sort of thing. But Christmas in Philly has become a tradition for us now & traditions are fun no matter what shape they take. So now our Christmas morning is in a hotel room. We turn on the fake fireplace, make hot cocoa, get our breakfast from the lobby, open stockings and a few little presents, get dressed for the day, go pick up the best chinese food in town (I'm not kidding, it is so good, we look forward to it all year) & head over to visit with Uncle Rob. Spend as long as the kids can stand with Uncle Rob (they LOVE Uncle Rob so this is usually most of the day!) they also love to play outside in the sometimes snow, sometimes just VERY cold weather. We open presents with Uncle Rob, usually talk to the family in CA and then we head back to the hotel to veg in front of the tube (we don't get tv at home so this is a big treat for the kids), there are usually great documentaries on the birth of Christ and some Christmas cartoons & such on. Last year, Eric just took Abby & left the rest of us at home, finances, new baby, and short on time led to this decision & I will NEVER do that again. We missed Eric & Abby so much but we also really missed our special time with Uncle Rob. Anyway, this year I have planned early, I am going to book the hotel today and the rest is taken care of. The day after Christmas we always take Rob to Anthony's, this great Italian restuarant, another treat we look forward to all year. I'm drooling on my keyboard, next topic....
I am taking the holidays to revamp our school schedule. I want to combine more of the girls schoolwork. The juggling act is getting tough. Even without that, Abby has found a few of the books on the Ambleside list just don't work for her. I think I thought this was some sort of failure on my part but after some consideration I realized that she is a child, a person, and she is not going to click with everything I set in front of her. She also started AO in Y4 and has thus not read all the material for Y1-Y3. She has read a lot of Y1 while I was working with Erin but I want to give her time to read some of the great books Erin is taking advantage of. So, we have dropped Madame how & Lady Why from Natural History and It Couldn't Just Happen from Science. I have replaced MH&LW with The Burgess Flower Book For Children as well as letting her join Erin in reading The Burgess Animal Book these are favorites in our house. I am adding in a Business Math course to our Math rotation, we found this at the Simply Charlotte Mason site, she will be starting and running her own pet store, it looks fun & she is really excited about it. For Science we are continuing with Physics Lab in the Home and letting Erin join in. We are also spending more time on the Exploring Creation through Astronomy book with both girls. We are combining history using both Y2 & Y4 (one focuses more on the history of England while the other is more American history). We are going to stick with Plutarch but keep to the Young Folks version for the next year or so, this way Erin can join in and maybe their comprehension will increase when we go back to the original. I am using literature from both Y2 & Y4 because Abby loves Kidnapped so she should finish it but I also want her to read Pilgrims' Progress with us as well as Parables from Nature and Understood Betsy. They are both deep into separate books for geography so I will leave that alone and bring them together 2 days a week to work on Elementary Geography. I am also trying to implement KISS grammar, it is free and very Charlotte Mason. I am still trying to sort through all of the information on this site to get started and hopefully will have it all figured out by the New Year (target start date). I am in the process of scheduling subjects on a daily basis and I still want our days to be under 4 hrs of "schoolwork", it seems very doable. Eric put together a very cool program for our budget this weekend so I hope he can show me how he did it so I can do something like that for our school schedule. I'm still tweaking but I think we're off to a good start, I hope this will make the days more manageable with a lot less time wasted. They can work together if I need to work with the younger ones or deal with other things.
I am off to make pies for Thanksgiving, Chocolate Pecan today, Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake tomorrow, and Sour Cream Apple Pie on Wednesday. Jack did request the raw Apple Pie I made a while ago, I might make that just for him & eat it one night this week before Thanksgiving. He always knows how to make me smile.
Have a great Thanksgiving!
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Posted in Family Life
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This is the whole crew, all 9 cousins from 11yrs (tomorrow 11-11) all the way down to 6 mo (almost 7 mo). They had a blast at the beach! I love that we can still enjoy the beach in October, now November!
This is Esther, isn't she beautiful? I might be a little biased though!
Ever since Katy learned to walk/run this is how most of her pictures have turned out. She was chasing a gull, he did not want to be caught!
Happy Birthday Ruby & Locksley! This was our trip to the Gulfarium, the kids were all amazed at how close they were to the dolphins. For most of their trip they feigned slight boredom but when they were next to the dolphins you could see how their eyes lit up with excitement. Worth every penny!
Another shot of Katy running away from me!
Isn't this a great picture? Abby took this (9yr) and the trainer does have a raw fish in her mouth that the dolphin took without a hitch. I love sushi but this is kind-of gross, cool but gross!
More dolphin shots, I think Abby took this one also.
The end of the day, tired, excited, and dolphin'd out (well not really but they were closing so we had to leave). I love homeschooling, these cousins would have never had this visit if either family had been in school and also an extra bonus, we almost had the whole Gulfarium to ourselves. I just realized the babies are missing from this picture because Christina had Esther in her wrap and I had Katy in the backpack. |
Posted in Math
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Abby is in Ambleside Year 4, basically grade 4. She is scores ahead in literature & vocabulary, this comes easy and naturally to her. On the other hand, math has been a constant struggle. I mostly blame myself for not finding and sticking to a math program. We have tried most of the big name programs and nothing seemed to fit with her. She has always dreaded math. So I have been searching and researching the Living Math concept. I love the idea but have struggled with how to implement it into a true schedule that I can allow her to enjoy math but at the same time still be able to gauge her progress. I took a break from looking through the programs and the books, spent some time in prayer, thought about our goals and objectives with math and looked at what worked in our other subjects and this is what I have come up with:
First of all, we use Charlotte Mason methods so keeping in the spirit of journaling and narration I put together a Math Journal for each school age child. It is separated into 4 sections: Books read, Game scores, Narrations, and worksheets. Then I looked at the resources I wanted to implement: Family Math, Free reading, Math History, Games, and worksheets/book work.
So I have all of these resources used on a rotation during the week, currently set up like this:
Monday: Family Math & Free Reading Tuesday: Math History & Games Wednesday: Worksheets/book work & Family Math Thursday: Free Reading & Math History Friday: Games & worksheets/book work
We have used this so far this week with wonderful results. Abby has started reading Murderous Maths for free reading and has done wonderful narrations. Erin has been reading shorter books in one sitting The Doorbell Rang , etc. In Family Math we have been working on Palindromes, filling in a chart based on color for each different step Palindrome. This includes a lot of multi-step addition. We have also discussed the origin of our number system, the value of skip counting when counting money, adding money (decimal point), fractions (baking cookies & doubling recipes), addition/subtraction(Erin) & multiplication (Abby) worksheets. The girls have both given me wonderful narrations for their books, which I have written down & placed in their journals. Last night, Abby actually said that she used to think she was really bad at numbers but now she realizes she is good at them and she really likes them. That is the very thing I wanted to hear!
For resources I have been using the book & games list from the Living Math site. This is also where I got the Living Math History course. Worksheets were purchased at Walmart, no huge expense, it's just to put my mind at ease that they can recognize a problem in it's written form & solve it, there will come a time that this is necessary (testing, etc.)
I should throw in what I am using for Jack (Kindergarten). I did make a Math Journal for him but it is empty right now. He is all hands on for the time being but will eventually have wonderful goodies to fill his journal. We worked on money this week, the difference and value of pennies & nickels. I also am using Simply Numbers with him, it's a lot of games & rhyming songs (see title of this post!). He was an Indian yesterday so he built a campfire (minus the fire) in the corner of the Living Room and we did "school" on the floor around his campfire which included singing "Ten Little Indian Boys", of course! When we were finishing up with the money work I asked him if someone offered him a piece of candy for .05 and he had a nickel would he have enough money, he answered "yes". Same question but with 5 pennies, again, he answered "yes". Then he was quite for a minute before asking, "Will someone really ask me that? Can I have a nickel!" Always prepared, my little guy, he is so funny! |
Posted in Languages
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I asked the girls which language they would like to learn... Erin: English (in other word, NONE) Abby: Elvish (too much Lord of the Rings!)
so we settled on...
5 words each week M: French T: Spanish W: Hebrew Th: Seminole (Creek) Erin's final choice F: Italian Abby's final choice
I am hoping something peaks their interest and we will narrow in on one language of their choice next year. For now we are doing Latin everyday & 5 new words in each of the above languages. This week's words are Mother, Father, Sister, Brother, & Dog. It's French day so here is today's lesson: de mere, de pere, de soeur, de frere, chien on flash cards studied over snacks.
I have been on the computer for over an hour trying to find translations for the Creek words, if anyone knows where I can get them free online please let me know. In the meantime, I ordered a Creek-English dictionary & I found a translation for dog: efv, pronounced ef-fa.
I finally got my 2 missing issues of The Home Educators Tutor! Yeah, they are so fun. They have the verses written in English, French, Spanish, Greek, and Latin. I have Abby write the corresponding translation w/ the corresponding language on the day we study it. So for today she wrote her verse in English and French, tomorrow will be English and Spanish, the days we do not have a matching language she will write in Latin and English. |
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My sister came for the week, YEAH!!! We had so much fun & some much needed sister time. She really needs to move down here because I hated to let her go. It was non-stop with 9 kids between us. We went to the beach on Monday, shopping & Fall Festival on Tuesday, Wednesday we headed to Ft. Walton Beach to the Gulfarium & then pizza, Thursday was PE at the YMCA & then more shopping, Friday we just vegged (if you can veg w/ 9 kids in a 1000 sq ft house) & let the kids play, play, play, Saturday she packed & then we all went downtown to the Harbor Heritage Festival and then to a local coffee shop. They left somewhat early on Sunday and then Eric took us out for brunch. When we got home everyone crashed, they all slept for about 3 hrs. My kids all have yucky colds and Eric had inventory at work this week which meant long hours, more than usual.
I will try to post pictures of our week as soon as I get a chance (Dad) but I just wanted to let everyone know we are still here. |
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It seems like everyone has disappeared! Just about all of the yahoo groups I am on have gone almost silent. Not many emails being sent out. Not as many posts on blogs as usual. Our homeschool group even had a fieldtrip planned for Friday & not one single family (out of 60) has signed up to go. This a bit of a relief for me because we are so busy with school work, revamping schedules, trying to finish the current term before Thanksgiving that a fieldtrip right now just slows us down. I guess everyone else is feeling the same way. The holidays are coming and I am hoping to put aside our regular schedule and do some extra, holiday oriented reading and activities as well as some extra goodies. Indian studies and visits to an Indian reservation and festival, more indepth in our astronomy, work on some lapbooks for our Flat travellers, more free reading read alouds over tea time, etc. Not too mention I think my sister is truly coming next week so that will be a fun week with a lot of nature study but not much of anything else school-wise, I'm not complaining, I am sooooo excited they are coming & can't wait to have them here for a week. School is a non-issue next to family. The kids do have a PE class today that we have to go to so I need to run and get the family moving. |
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We had such a quiet and peaceful week. I almost didn't want to come back. We had such a nice time visiting with friends and enjoying each others company. The kids played outside non-stop. We arrived late Tuesday and slept in on Wednesday. Then we had a raw breakfast & went to the grocery store. In the afternoon some local Ambleside friends came over with their kids. We had 12 kids altogether & we hardly saw them for 5 minutes. They were romping in the woods & down to the creek. It was so nice to talk about what we are doing for the kids in school and gleaning ideas from each other. When everyone was getting ready to go Jack came screaming down the driveway yelling that something bit him & it felt like a jellyfish. Since we don't have jellyfish in the woods of GA we soon realized he had found a Yellow Jacket nest and they had left 3 stings on my little guy. Thank you Lyre for the bleach info, that was so helpful! Luckily, he is not allergic. He said he never wanted to go outside again after that little incident but our friends from down the road came over the next day & all was forgotten. They spent another afternoon romping in the woods, playing in the creek, finding turtles & such...
We ate raw food all week. The kids seemed to be doing fine with it, no real complaints just some minor whining that accompanies most meals so I wasn't concerned. Most of the food was pretty yummy but when Daddy arrived on Saturday the troops turned on me. They were practically begging him for a HOT pizza or just about anything that was not raw. I was so hurt! I was glad that he held strong but by Sunday morning I was so tired of the chanting "NO MORE RAW! NO MORE RAW!" that I was begging him to go get bagels. So Sunday was pretty much a junk day & we decided to go home with Daddy b/c my sister had to delay her trip a week, major bummer!
Our house is still on the market & it is sitting patiently waiting for a new owner but I secretly hope it doesn't sell. I love that house. It's not much to look at but it is so cozy.
I updated our avatar photo, I wasn't real crazy about the kids in swimsuits and this one is from the Gulf Shores Shrimp Fest the weekend before last. We don't have many photos of all of us so this was a treat even if we are all a little blurry!
We did not get much done in the way of school last week but that is what today is for so I am off to hit the books with the kiddos. |
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The kids & I are going to Macon, GA tomorrow. We need to check on our house & I am craving a little solitude. No phones, computers, TV, just peace and quiet. We will visit with a few friends, take nature walks, nature study, read in front of the fire, snuggle, do school work. I am bringing my vita-mix & dehydrator so we can experiment in the kitchen w/ some yummy raw recipes and I am hoping to catch up on some personal reading. This is my plan anyway, we will see how it goes. Eric will meet us on Fiday & spend the weekend with us, he has business in Montgomery this week which is halfway between here & Macon. And then as an added bonus, on our way home we will meet up w/ my sister near Atlanta & she will follow us home. A week w/ the cousins!!!!! Yeah!!! My kids are estatic! I'm a little psyched also! We miss them soooooo much! So I need to run as we pack the car & finish our last minute errands before we head out in the morning. I am hoping to be able to stop at one of the great, healthier grocery stores in Atlanta, (it used to be called Harry's, I'm not sure if it still is or not) on our way into Macon to pick up food for the week. I'll look it up in a few minutes to mapquest. Talk to everyone in a week. |
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My Rye crackers turned out awful, oh well, we'll try again another time. And we did great with eating healthy today until dinner time. For breakfast we had yummy berry smoothies and LOTS of fruit, for lunch we had dehydrated crackers w/ strawberry cream "cheese" (pine nuts, sunflower seeds, maple syrup, lemon juice, strawberries, sea salt) and a HUGE salad (collard greens, red leaf lettuce, iceburg lettuce, grape tomatoes, cucumber, broccoli sprouts, and a huge marinated portabella mushroom). I had planned on tortillas for dinner w/ cooked black beans, portabella mushrooms, guacamole, salsa, sprouts, and whatever else we could find to throw on it but I realized we were on our last roll of toilet paper so we headed out to the store. Unfortunately, I was starving at the store & we ended up having Fried Chicken, chips, soda, & ice cream, ugh! Feeling really guilty about that but looking forward to trying again tomorrow. I made a huge jump today & threw out all of our processed sugars, which is why I was feeling deprived and went a little nuts w/ the junk at the store. With 5 kids & 2 adults, the ice cream is gone and I should be OK tomorrow b/c we are having friends over for a visit so the kids can eat the fried chicken and I'll just stick w/ a salad. The girls did great w/ school today. Abby finished her reading in George Washington's World, worked on math, and Latin. She also finished her chapter in It couldn't Just Happen and has almost finished one of her free reading books. We also studied Bach, a new hymn, and listened to some favorite folksongs. Erin and I read a chapter from Understood Betsy and the Burgess Animal Book . We read a chapter from The Little Duke and from The Burgess Seashore Book . She finished a page in math, worked on her Latin and read some poetry. All in all a very productive day. Erin's narrations have been sporadic, sometimes she gives me these fabulous retellings of the story and other times I get a blank stare so we keep chugging along knowing that it will all pay off in the end. Jack can recognize about 5 or 6 letters (we are going VERY slow w/ this) and can recognize & count to ten. He loves anything to do w/ Indians so we are following that bunny trail to wherever it leads. This Friday is our first contenders/Keepers group that I am supposed to be leading & I have yet to figure out what we are going to be doing (Organization is not my thing!) Maybe we will work on bike safety, my kids could really use some help there. Off to bed...... |
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I talked to my Dad last night and he asked when I was going to post on my blog again??? Huh? He reads my blog, it was so funny, I never thought he would be interested in something like this. So....thanks for reading my blog Daddy, I hope you enjoy.
Eric left with the older 3 kids & went to Macon, GA to check on our house. While he was gone I took Seth & Katy to The Fresh Market in Mobile, AL to get almonds by the bulk (LOVE chocolate & strawberry almond milk) and while we were there we picked up lunch (fresh veggies & lettuce from the salad bar, a few containers of fruit, a bag of mixed raw nuts, and some dehydrated veggies)I also got Seth an organic fruit leather and some chocolate covered pretzels (not raw but he was sooooo excited!) They had so much Halloween candy out that he was begging for something sweet. While I'm talking food I'll just tell you what we had for breakfast, sweet & chewy flax crackers (made w/ oat groats, flax seed, maple syrup, cranberries, raisins, dates, almonds & pecans and thrown in the dehydrator) topped w/ banana, tahini, ginger or cinnamon, and honey, so yummy. Not my husbands cup of tea though, he does not like sweet things for breakfast but he said it would make a good dessert. Anyway, after we left the store we went to the USS Alabama. It is a huge battleship parked in the Mobile Bay. There are lots of cannons & tanks & airplanes parked on the grounds also, a dream come true for a little boy that LOVES army men! He had so much fun even though we did not go on the ship. They were charging $12 per person to walk on the ship, not the way I want to spend $12. We had a picnic out there & wondered around until he got tired & then we headed home. He & Katy have slept off and on since then, they both are running low-grade fevers & have the sniffles. He has a cough also, poor little guy.
Eric called after we got home & asked if we could bring the key to the Macon house (it's 6 hrs away & he forgot the key!). Fortunately, they were able to get a window open. We all miss that house. We are finally getting some interest in it from buyers & now we are having second thoughts about selling. It reminds me of a mountain lodge because it's set in the woods on 3.5 acres (no visible neighbors, all nature). It is so cozy in the winter and Eric had just remodelled the kitchen before we moved. I think I am going to take the kids back for a week before the end of the month, we have some friends we want to visit there also.
While my little ones are sleeping I am going to try to plan out our school week next week. I want to incorporate the preparation of some raw meals into their school day. Erin, Abby, Jack, and Seth have been very enthusiastic about the raw food because they are able to do so much more to help. Nothing to get burned on. Plus Abby's favorite meal is salad so she can get creative and create whatever kind of salad she would like, she has big plans already.
So now I am off to make Rye crackers from my rye sprouts. I think I will go to the cheese farm on Monday b/c I can pick up some raw cheese, they will be yummy w/ the crackers. |
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This has been a very unproductive week. I had a book study start on Monday, we are studying Francis Schaeffer's How Should We Then Live . This was a great time for me but we did not do much in the way of school work. During the study, Eric called to invite us to dinner with his boss. What a treat, so back to The Beach House we went. No alligator this trip but still a good time was had by all. I hope we didn't embarrass daddy too much, I know he will have a few things to live down |
. I thought I might have slept wrong the night before b/c I was kind-of achy & stiff. When I woke up on Tuesday I felt achy all over & bruised on my chest (I'm still nursing Katy). By the afternoon I realized I had mastitis, ugh! We made it throught the day just taking care of the minimum. Wednesday & Thursday are a blur, lots of water, & sleep, lots of thanking the girls for all of their help, I read a little about eating a raw diet (a new obsession), but mostly slept and snuggled with whoever climbed up on the couch with me. Today I feel sooooo much better, even though the infection is not completely healed, the fever, achiness, and chills are gone. I started feeling better before I went to bed last night so I put together some cookie dough from one of the raw foods recipes, popped it in the dehydrator & for breakfast the kids had cookies (made with oat groats, dates, maple syrup, blueberries, & almonds) and a strawberry milkshake (almonds, water, dates, frozen strawberries -would have been better with frozen banana but I was out, it was still good though). The cookies were the big hit! It was nice to wake up to the smell of the cookies in the dehydrator. I am going to be dabbling more and more into this raw foods thing. I really believe our bodies were made to be efficient enough to handle all of our daily tasks. Being constantly tired or sick is not how we were designed. I would love to see my kids being as vibrant and healthy as God intended by eating food that is still alive with nutrients. I don't know that I can be 100% raw, too many meals are so deeply ingrained (Thanksgiving Turkey for instance) and I don't want to be that person that makes everybody else miserable b/c of their food choices so I know that I will eat cooked food when the situation arises but I think we could be raw for most day to day meals. I am really hoping to see improvements in the kids health and vitality that will hopefully carry over into their studies.|
Our eating habits have slowly deteriorated with the number of kids we have. When we had our first we were vegan vegetarians. Then before we had our second we were not only eating dairy but meat also. We have tried to swing back towards healthy but I have a tendency to go overboard. I can't just eat healthier I have to eat exactly as the book (whatever that book may be) describes, if we vary from it, I feel like a failure. We have been in full blown junk food eating phase for quite a while so after Eric had his high cholesterol reading I knew it was time to get serious about our diets. I feel comfortable with our level of excercise right now but our diets have needed a big overhaul. I needed to find some balance. I love eating vegetarian (I can't afford the pesticide-free, grain-fed meats too often) but I know my family really likes their meat. So here is what I have come up with. First and foremost we are trying to follow biblical dietary laws (no pork, shellfish, etc) next I have our meals somewhat organized into categories. Breakfast is vegetarian, mostly smoothies during the week but on the weekend we usually have brunches, so for instance today we had apple baskets (baked, whole, cored apples wrapped in dough & stuffed w/ pecans, raisins, cinnamon, & honey) and scrambled eggs (I said vegetarian, not vegan). Tomorrow we are having a concoction similar to french toast but with peanut butter & warm applesauce & omelets. Lunches are to be raw, salads, dehydrated goodies, fruit, etc. I have a great uncookbook by Serene Allison called Rejuvenation for all of my yummy lunch ideas. Anyway, dinner is to be 2 meals fish, 2 meals meat, 2 meals vegetarian, and 1 meal raw. All this to tell you that tonight was our first raw night. I was really expecting turned up noses and wails of disgust but my husband was a trooper, he was very enthusiastic & the kids in turn at least made a valiant effort. We had raw tacos, this is cabbage leaves stuffed with mexican nut stuffer (raw carrots, almonds, spices blended smooth in the blender--love my vita-mix), guacamole, salsa, diced tomato, red, yellow, & green peppers, marinated mushrooms, sprouts, & chalula. None of the kids finished theirs but they didn't complain and they all (except Seth, he's 3) ate at least half of it. Hubby had 2 I hear my whole crew downstairs singing along to daddy while he plays the guitar so I am off to join them...... |
! They were really good. So after dinner we went for a bike ride & then came back & had apple pie & ice cream, oh well, at least dinner was healthy. Eric's only request was not to have raw night on a Saturday again, I think I can handle that. Then he wanted to know if hummus was raw, I said it could be & so could falafels (we love middle eastern food), I'll just sprout some chick-peas & get on it. So for raw night next week, I'm thinking raw falafels & hummus, some tabbouli, and maybe some pita bread made with sprouted grains & dried in the dehydrator, yum!|
Today was/is such a beautiful day. The weather is gorgeous, 86 & sunny with enough of a breeze to keep the heat to a minimum. We got up early to see Daddy off to work and then on to take care of our puppy. The pears she dug out of the trash last night didn't sit well and..well..let's just say, I had to clean out her bed this morning. Yuck! We were getting ready for PE class at the YMCA when a new member of our homeschool group called. We had such a nice conversation & I am so glad she joined. I am really looking forward to meeting her. We were running a few minutes late for PE (I run my mouth too much!) which ended up being a good thing for me. Usually I head to Starbucks w/ a few other moms but they had already left by the time I got there so I decided to take advantage of my 2 free hours (I say free even though I still had my youngest 2) and got my grocery shopping done for next week (Thank you Hillbilly Housewife my grocery bill for 7 people was a grand total of $36.86 and that included dog food, laundry detergent, tax & breakfast, lunch, dinner & snacks!). Then I ran home to put the goodies away, paid a few bills, ran through Starbucks (I was feeling a little guilty about that wasteful spending and ended up spilling part of it on my clothes), then back to the Y to pick up the kids. I spent a few minutes talking with a friend (again, I talk way too much) and the kids were starving by the time we got home. PB&J's all around, courtesy of Abby & Erin, then we loaded up into the car again & headed to the beach. I was able to do a little nature journaling but the kids were more interested in playing in the water. Katy caught on to the idea of collecting seashells (pretty smart for a 14 mo old) and started bringing me these tiny, perfect shells. Erin found an empty crab shell and they just played & played. The wind started blowing pretty hard & the sand stung a bit so we finally decided to call it a day. We are now home, showered, & making dinner (Almond Brown Rice, Steamed Broccoli, Salad, and bread w/ butter, Yum!). I guess even though this has been a great day overall I know that tomorrow will be better because Eric took the day off & we have a 3 day weekend ahead of us, woo-hoo! We really need this time with him right now, God is so good to provide us with what we need when we need it! |
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Eric finally told me his plan for all of us to work out together before he goes to work. He wants us to work up to riding to the YMCA because he doubted I would be able to ride 3 miles pulling the trailor w/ 2 kids proceed to run &/or swim and then ride an additional 3 miles home. Of course, I was insulted that he thought I was so out of shape. We went for a bike ride on Sunday just to prove to him I could do it. I WAS DYING!!!!!! And I think we only went 2 miles, total, round trip! I really think I could have done it but the bike seat is sooooooooo uncomfortable! So I let him go without us Monday morning with the goal that I will be ready to ride in 2 weeks. He also decided to get Jack a bigger bike without training wheels. So he is SLOWLY learning to ride his new bike. Not the picture I had in my head but we will get there. I did take the kids for a 2.4 mile bike ride & then drove to the YMCA where I ran 1.85 miles. I would have been fine if it wasn't for the uncomfortable seat. I am begging Eric to let me get a gelled seat cover but he says I need to toughen up. (Not the spot I really want to be tough & calloused in, kwim) The kids have been out riding everyday & as soon as Jack gets used to his big bike the kids will do great on the ride. His smaller bike has such small tires that he has to peddle at least 2x as fast as the rest of us, the poor little guy. So I think he will be happier when he gets the hang of it.
We have been studying the Biblical Holidays during our Bible study this school year. Rosh Hoshanna was last friday & should have been the first holiday we celebrated but I choked. I just couldn't figure out what we were supposed to really be doing. I had in my head that we were going to eat fish, carrots, apples & honey, and Challah bread. We were going to light a candle & read Bible verses. It is the Jewish New Year & represents the birth of creation. But I never got a Shofar (ram's horn) to blow for this feast (aka the festival of Trumpets). And then a friend casually mentioned that she wasn't sure what was Biblical & what was man-made in the celebration of this festival. It struck me later so I opened my Bible & checked out the few verses that mention this feast. None of my plans were Biblical & since I never got a shofar (the only thing that was Biblical) we skipped the whole thing & went out for seafood (no shellfish though, it isn't kosher
Don't even get me started on Yom Kippur, I'm already stressed about it! |