Happy New Year!

I have balloons with their pop time written on them. They may not let me pop them, they are having far too much fun playing with them.

The line up:

8:00 - make cookie dough to eat (this recipe is MUCH better than the last eggless I tried) and watch Enchanted (the Enchanted part wasn't planned, but the cookie dough was)

9:00 - Play Zelda. The girls have been begging to play since we haven't touched it in months.... Yes, I'm a bad, bad gamer. I got frustrated at a certain part and refused to play it again.

10:00 - Build a fort. Going to go all out moving the couches around to do so.

10:30 - Read some books by flashlight in the fort.

11:00 - Dance! Haven't played the original Just Dance in a while.

11:30 - Eat some oranges. Talk about how oranges are considered good luck in many cultures.

11:45 - Talk about wishes and hopes for the next year.

12:00 - Pop fireworks and make some noise!

I hope Chris is home from work so I can give him a kiss at midnight!

A Step Back and Some Good Food

I realized something tonight.

We homeschool.

I know, right? I knew that I homeschool. I have goals in mind. I know where I WANT everyone to end up at the end of spring. However, I need to realize, it's not I, it's WE homeschool. I don't HAVE to meet expectations of a school district by the end of spring. This process belongs just as much to my children as it does to me.

I lost track of the most important thing, letting them go at their own pace even if that means going backwards. Tamarin had a regression after I had Capuchin. I've been pulling my hair out trying to understand why she is saying she can't do things she was doing perfectly well. I realized tonight, it doesn't matter. Instead of pressing forward and making her do it I need to take a step back.

For the next few weeks we're going to go simple. I'm going to pull out some of the books we worked on last year. She will probably find them incredibly easy, but perhaps she needs the confidence boost before going back to the proper level work.

FOOD

Here are some recipes we tried over the last two weeks that were good. Just thought I'd share.

Knock off King's Hawaiin Bread. I made rolls with it. Big hit!

Knock off Pizza Hut bread. I know I already posted about this, but seriously, I mean it, make this!!

Chris ate all of this. I'm still having problems with texture (yet another pregnancy thing), but the taste was good.

BEST SNICKERDOODLE RECIPE EVER

2013

I only had one resolution for 2012: give birth. After two miscarriages in fall of 2011 I only had one thing on my mind going into this year. How often can people say they succeeded at their New Year's resolution? This may be the one time in my life I can say I did and I have the proof :)

Who me?

Feeling far too confident due to this fact I have big goals for 2013. Did you know that the US government actually took the time to post a list of popular New Year's resolutions? Of course, what else would they be doing with their time and our money......

Anyway, for me, I have a few specific resolutions for the year:

Volume - You can ask anyone that has met me... my default setting is loud. Which leaves..... louder and fuming...... The girls, particularly the oldest, has inherited this problem from me. If you have a group of children that start out loud then when they fight they get louder, where does that leave Mama when she's trying to get everyone's attention? I have to bump up to my loudest setting just to get their attention which doesn't help. So my resolution is to bring the volume of our whole household down.

No idea where this is from. I found it on pinterest, but no one links to the original site for it.

Book Club - I want to read a book from cover to cover!! I haven't completed a book since the last Harry Potter book released in 2007. Tamarin was almost a year old. I had more time on my hands back then. No... wait..... I have read one book completely since then, but I don't remember when it was. I read The Last Enchantment by Mary Stewart ... which I thought was the FIRST book in the series.... turned out it was the last..... I mean it's called Last Enchantment.... you'd think I would have realized it was the last book BEFORE I was halfway through it. I want to reread some books I love (Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Touch Not the Cat or Airs Above the Ground by Mary Stewart) and a few new ones as well. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!!

Then there are the common resolutions.

ORGANIZATION!

Or, the lack there of....

I've got to figure out how to get us more organized! Especially in the school room..... I've organized these shelves twice since August..... as you CAN'T tell. It doesn't help that my tornadoes have been known to empty every shelf once and a while. I want to pick one thing (not even a whole room, just one THING) every week to focus on and get it organized. Today it was stuffed animals. I told the girls it was a game. I needed them to sneak all the stuffed animals into the laundry room without Daddy noticing :) They bought it! Score one for me! They are all being washed as well as the bench toy box most of them go in. I'm going to downgrade my clean laundry basket to contain the overflowing stuffed animal zoo and get a new one for laundry. So week #1 is already a success!

I've been searching the internet for organization ideas. I'm just not finding anything that screams "THIS IS IT!"

So anyway, there it is. What are your resolutions? And I don't want to hear the typical, "lose weight, save money" blah blah blah. I want a personal, real resolutions from my friends that read this.

A Birthday With Your Friendly Neighborhood Webslinger



Not my cleanest work, but Lemur was absolutely thrilled. I'm not good at carving cake. I like making square or circle cakes and adapting the icing to my needs. We are about to slice into it as soon as the girls are done eating.

We made spiderweb pizzas using this recipe + 2 tbs of honey :) Everything is better with honey. I'll post my pasta/pizza sauce at the bottom, incredibly simple and the only one the girls will eat.

I put a balloon spider up in Lemur's room while she slept and she wasn't too sure about it when she woke up. I got the idea from here.

There were a few other crafty things I thought we might get to today, but they had too much fun playing on their own. Anyway, here is one of the things we will probably do tomorrow.

     

Also will probably play pin the spiderman on the web :)

Pasta/Pizza Sauce:

One small can of tomato sauce

1 tsp of all the following parsley, oregano, marjoram, basil, onion, and sugar

1/2 tsp salt

Cook on medium till it thickens a bit.

Like I said this is the only sauce my girls will eat. They won't even eat the bottled sauce from the store. For pasta I usually use a large can and a tablespoons instead of teaspoons



Hello, Sheriff

It's been a wonderful morning. Some lingering snow on the ground. Lemur opened her birthday gifts and the girls have been having fun playing with them. While doing dishes I noticed more than a dozen blue jays and robins were flitting around searching for food. I sent the older two out to feed them the last of our bird seed.

We had a nice accumulation of trash by the front door seeing as we've been holed up inside since Monday expecting the blizzard that wasn't. Chris set to taking the bags out while I worked on Lemur's cake. Pic to come once it's done. I got a call from my mother-in-law asking when we'd be having Lemur's party. While talking to her Chris comes in and tells me I need to get off the phone. I tell her something is wrong and I had to go. I'm picturing something awful outside: Hooch didn't come inside last night. Is he dead? Did Chris overhear something happening at a neighbor's house? Is someone being beaten or killed? Worse yet, a vagrant hid out in our barn for warmth and there's a body in the barn?!

Time out! See these are the things that go through a mother's head. All those times your mom told you not to do things, this is why. She can take the simplest thing and turn it into a million disaster scenarios from the realistic to absurd. Okay, time out over.

" Someone set our trash can on fire."
" Our trash can's on fire?!"
" No, it's burnt."

Thank you mister melodramatic.... Apparently this happened sometime over the last couple of days:

Chris called the sheriff. They sent a deputy out pretty quick. Good to know if we ever need them they can get here in a timely manner, even though he did pass our house twice before finally reading the numbers on the mailbox.

So, place your bets. Arson, accidental, or mechanical failure? It may have been drunk idiots being funny. It could be someone threw something in our can that was still burning. I have noticed some trash that was not ours before, so that is possible. Or could it be that the electrical lines above it sparked. I find it curious the grass outside is scorched, but only half the dumpster burned.

Who knows? Lets hope if it was arson that the people have a vendetta for our neighbor and not us. It could have easily burned the trees around our neighbor's home, it is unlikely it would have effected any of our property other than the dumpster. So for my friends out there who think I'm a little off my rocker for being paranoid about living in the country. Here's proof, it's not all in my head.

Merry Christmas

Okay, I'm not a very crafty person. It's not clean, it's free handed by a sleep deprived mother at one in the morning. However, the girls were happy with it and that's what matters!

This is my least favorite part of the holiday. Making sure we wake up, get everything wrapped and in front of the tree! Sure enough we both fell asleep, but fortunately I woke up just before midnight. There was a year when we didn't wake up till 5 am. Ah! This year proved especially unnerving though since the tree is in sight of the hall. This was a stealth mission like never before.

So I made a booby trap (Where did the term booby trap come from? Just curious if anyone knows cause I don't.) So with Top Gear playing in the background (because what says Christmas better than a British accent) we commenced wrapping. Chris recalls his retail days of professional wrapping. I on the other hand have a get it done approach. We both enjoyed laughing at each other. He knows all the things he is getting because I am an awful gift giver. I can't keep a secret. It's one of my better qualities! I on the other hand have a surprise in my stocking...... Shhh... he's almost asleep. I also love to peek :)

This year we wrapped each kid's presents in their own wrapping paper. Last year there was a mishap where Santa mislabeled a gift O.O

This season was not normal for us. No trip to see Santa, no Polar Express train ride, no meet up with cousins, but they took it fairly well. They wanted to write another letter to Santa yesterday reminding him exactly what they wanted. I told them it was too late to change their minds and nothing would make it in time. The good news is they are both getting exactly what they wanted anyway.

A few nights ago we did our Polar Express night. They opened new pajamas the elves had brought, they watched the movie, and drank a special hot chocolate the elves had left in the crock pot. It's a pretty good recipe and I liked the fact you could walk away from it without stressing!

We had a Christmas Eve meal with a southwestern flair. It was surprisingly good. I wasn't expecting it to be worthy of a repeat, but I think it is.



Well, at least Chris and I ate it. The girls ate cookies and eggnog. Oh come on, it's only once a year, why not?

Hope everyone has a festive day! It looks like we have an ice storm headed our way. Be careful everyone!

Winter Solstice

Just finished wrapping the girl's Solstice gifts. Today we will talk about symbols. We will talk about how modern religions use many of the symbols of old Solstice traditions. We have discussed the rotation of the earth around the sun, but we will review it again today. If Lydia cooperates we might step outside and collect stuff for a wreath.

I had a long post written, but decided most people wouldn't take it the right way. Nothing I say is going to enlighten anyone. So I will just say this: The reason for all the celebrations in the winter months is light, family, and life. It is the time when, before we had heated transportation, people were forced indoors with their families and friends. These celebrations are to remind people that the light will return, the cycle of life will continue, and soon enough you will be able to escape the family and run in the fields :)

Happy Solstice

While You Were Blogging......

.......... Crap............

Note to self, this is why we blog in early morning or after bed time.......

This is the leftover from making "snow" yesterday. Capuchin was sleeping on me while I blogged earlier. I finally convinced her to let me put her down and I find this in my kitchen....... I hope there are no pulmonary consequences to this mess.... It needed more shaving cream or less corn starch, but as you can see they enjoyed it anyway.





Boobies!

You've been warned this post is all about boobs.

My cousin was in town at the beginning of the month. He moved in March so it's been nearly a year since we'd seen him. The girls adore him, especially Howler. We were at my grandmother's for a couple of hours. Naturally, Capuchin got hungry while we were there. I put a blanket over us while she fed. Tamarin came back in the room and asked me "Why are you doing that?"

"She's hungry."

"No, why are you doing that? With the blanket?"

I paused for a moment. She's only seen me nurse at home this surprised her to see us covered..... "It's just the polite thing to do when you aren't at home."

......... the more I thought about it ....... the more it irked me ...............

Not my cousin. I don't think he cared. He has been around through all my kids including Howler who WOULD NOT nurse under a cover. She would scream and cry if you tried to cover her face. It was during that time I decided I didn't care about public opinion. I would nurse where I needed to. However at some people's homes I would still go into another room if it made someone present uncomfortable.

I'm still confused by the whole "controversy". This is the purpose of boobs. Does it make men uncomfortable to think of their mom's "dirty pillows"? Most women I know would look upon a nursing mother and smile because it makes them remember their children as infants. What did the women who scorn others for nursing in public go through? Were they unable to nurse? Were they harassed and shamed into feeding in bathrooms? Maybe it is the connection to nature? We after all are mammals, named so for our mammary glands. Is it the fact it reminds people we are at our connected to and similar to other animals?

My sister told me once that a woman asked her while feeding her daughter sitting on a bench in a public venue, "Are you doing what I think you're doing under there?"

"What do you think I'm doing?"

I love how quick she is. My brain doesn't work that fast. This baffles me. Women who are trying to be polite by covering still get harassed.

In high school I went to a sold out opening night for some movie. There was a VERY LARGE, not well dressed, odd looking woman who stood up out of her seat. She turned to the audience and proceeded to feed her infant. I will admit I was among the many who complained to management. "I have no problem with her feeding, but she is obviously trying to make a scene of it."

Retrospect. She was LARGE. She probably could not nurse in the cramped theater chair. I didn't realize how hard it was to feed an infant prekid. Depending on the baby it can be incredibly difficult. I already mentioned #3 wouldn't go under a cover. #1 wouldn't nurse. I had to pump. I worked 4-5 days a week back then. I pumped in the back of my car with blankets held up by the seats trying to not show the odd apparatus to passers by.

So why this stigma on breastfeeding? Here's an interesting article about the church, the printing press and Mary's boobs.



What I want to focus on though is how two faced out culture is.

When THIS is okay to see driving down an interstate, pasted on the side of a semi truck.


but THIS isn't



ABC's What Would You Do? had fun with this a couple of years ago. It mentions Bill Maher calling breastfeeding an 'intimate act'..... There is not a damn thing sexual about it. Ask any mother who has been unable to sleep because she's engorged, had thrush or bleeding nipples because her baby has a bad latch (That's me, right there!). Breastfeeding is not sexual. Breastfeeding is not easy. It's a sacrifice. We put up with physical pain and social inconvenience to try to do what is best for our children. The last thing any woman in that uncomfortable position needs is people giving her crap because they find it socially awkward.

Updated: Yes, I purposefully avoided using the word breasts in the bulk of this post. When you use the word breasts these days people glaze over and think medical, like breast cancer awareness. Our breasts are not defined as a sexual device or a cancerous organ. They are mammary glands. To feed our children with. Grow up people.

Nasty Husbandses

Our internet is down. I'm typing this from Chris' work phone... my thumbs hurt already.

I have asked Chris for his phone repeatedly this morning. First to check email, then check amazon to see if my packages were coming today, then facebook, finally I wanted some music while making breakfast. This is when he asks me if I'm going through withdrawal.

My reply, "Gives me my precious. I wants my precious."

" Nasty husbandses," He adds. I cracked up. Now it may be a 'you had to have been there' moment, but enough of my friends are Lord of the Rings fans I thought it was worth a share.

A little later I suggested he take the trash out.

"Nasty wifeses," he muttered.

As I type this we are starting the first movie. Tamarin came in to the room all excited when she saw what we were watching. What a great day for cuddling on the couch and watching good movie.

Oh, There I Am

I'm beginning to feel like a person again. Yes, pregnancy takes you through a transformation. You start out human, turn into some strange beast then after being exorcised you turn back into a functioning being again.

I am eagerly answering Tamarin's gazillion questions again instead of begging her to stop talking for 5 minutes. I'm excited about doing crafty things with the girls! I look forward to cooking dinner! I just hope I don't burn it. I burned three different things yesterday.... long day....


 

A huge shout out and thank you to my friend Jessie. She brought me a bunch of crock pot freezer meals she made herself. They were all awesome (except the one I burnt :( I suck with crock pots!). It made the last couple weeks so much easier. Here is the site she got her recipes from. They all tasted wonderful. My favorites were the taco soup and the beef stew.

 

 

Here are the things I have planned craft wise for the coming week.

Doing green and red for the cake cookies instead of blue and red.


I'm on the hunt. I need a good website for printing math worksheets. The workbook I've had Tamarin doing is about to take a big jump in knowledge and I don't think she's quite ready since I am not as handy to help right now. I found this on about.com. I see a few here that I could use for both Lemur and Tamarin, but not what I'm looking for exactly. If anyone else has a good site they know of I would appreciate a link!

This is a ton of snowflake patterns, from simple to ridiculous. The girls loved doing this last year. I can't wait to try one of the ridiculous ones :p

I am going to let a little bit of my inner freak show now. Look what I found at target!! I got it a while back but hadn't had a random enough post to put them on. Given my background in anthropology and osteology this was right up my alley.

Tamarin's First Purchase

Tamarin has lost six teeth over the last year. She has saved every bit of tooth fairy money in a shoe box in her dresser drawer. I asked her after each tooth if she was ready to spend her money or if she wanted to save it. She always answered with save it.

The first time she considered spending it was after she got Shaggy in August. She said she wanted to get him some toys. I had already purchased some toys and his leash for her birthday so I suggested we wait for a while before getting him more. Yesterday was the day. Tamarin wanted him to have a gift for Christmas.

As you can see he looks oh so happy about his new sweater.... at least she also got him a stocking of toys. He's happy about those.

She was so proud paying for it herself. This made me rethink the concept of paying for chores. What do you do? Do you expect your children to do chores out of obligation or do you give them an allowance?

I'm on the fence. Would love to hear other people's ideas.

Hanukkah.... Oops and Lunch

This is a can of chili...... this was my lunch...... or at least it was supposed to be........ as you can see - it is inedible..... It was cooking for at least an hour before I remembered it...... I miss having real food for lunch... at least real food that isn't leftovers from the girls meals.......

I've been so preoccupied on the farm front that I've not been posting about the other nights of Hanukkah. I missed the last couple of mornings of gifts, so I made up for it today. The plan was they each get one book from the book fair sale each day.

I don't know how my Jewish friends do this for 8 days! I have a hard enough time being organized enough to get things together for one day! Anyway, they are enjoying the books. We made these dreidels and the girls have enjoyed playing with them.

I tried to use this clay recipe thinking we could try and make our own.... yeah.... we ended up making handprints. This was not a good recipe..... too sticky no matter how much cornstarch you add to it. The handprints didn't turn out all that great either.

We then tried to make our own donuts...... good idea... problem is both of my jars of yeast had expired..... they weren't too bad, but not the fluffy goodness they were supposed to be. *sigh* Oh well. The recipe itself is very good. Look forward to trying it again.



 

Night 5, no educational things planned. I might make latkes again. Those might become a regular meal in this house :)

The Massacre

 

These were our ducks. Five of which we incubated and hatched. Three ducks we purchased as ducklings. One of the five we hatched was killed by a snake when we first moved them outside.

 

 

These pictures are the last I have of them from September. Yesterday morning we had seven ducks. Now we have one. The dog ate the body of one and killed the rest for fun.

 

 

I hoped this one would recover, but looking closer at his wound this morning I think his back is broken. I'll give him another day or two, if he doesn't start to move then we'll have to dispatch him. This was Tamarin's favorite. So it makes it all the harder that it's hanging on.

 

I'll spare you the picture of the dead ducks and decapitated head. There is one lone survivor that is untouched. He is one of those we hatched. Not sure how he's going to cope. Perhaps him and the girl turkey will become friends.

 

Update: the white duck did not make it. He passed a couple of days later.

Happy Hanukkah!

First, Happy Hanukkah to my Jewish friends :) I typed a message to each of you multiple times this week about to ask for advice on this, but felt embarrassed to ask!

We will be learning about lots of different religions over the next couple of months. We are starting with Judaism. I picked up a menorah at target on clearance last year after the holidays were over.

I talked to them about the story behind the menorah and how there is a special prayer for each day. The girls had a hard time understanding you light the candle but don't blow it out.

We read this book and made latkes:

I found two sites that seem like they have good info, but seeing as my knowledge of Hanukkah begins and ends with Adam Sandler I am not the best judge. Aklah and an article with videos on HuffPost.

My plan for tomorrow is dreidels. I picked up this book a few years ago: I Have A Little Dreidel.


Religion Unit:

These are the three books I have picked up as a brief introduction to many religions:



It's important for me to teach my girls that there is no right when it comes to religion. It has to do with what speaks to you, whether it be a religion, your own faith, or nothing. The only thing wrong is if someone tells you "THIS" is the only way that is right. I want to teach them to respect other people's beliefs and respect their rituals whether we share their faith or not.