My yearly vacation

This past April I was able to attend the Masshope homeschool conference. I look forward to conference every year. It is a time when I can learn, be renewed, encouraged, strengthened and see thousands of other people who are as crazy as I am. It is also a time when I can see first hand the tender mercies of the Lord. I am always amazed at how He answers my prayer for my kids. I have been learning and studying about the
Charlotte Mason style of education the past few years. I have found that it works really well with my girls and especially with Kiah. This year I was able to attend many classes about this style of learning and all of its how too's. My favorite speaker was Sonya Shafer. She has used this method for many years and I was able to learn quite a bit from her. I was also able to ask her some specific questions I had. If you are interested in finding out more about what I'm talking about you can visit Mrs. Shafer's website at  http://www.simplycharlottemason.com/. I have watched many of her video's and have employ many of her methods into our homeschool. Both the girls and I love it. It has really helped to make learning enjoyable. I am grateful to a Heavenly Father who hears and answers prayer and is concerned with what some would call trivial matters. And since I'm talking about it, I also loved the five days of staying in a hotel and eating out and the long quite walk in the art museum. Of course in true homeschool mom fashion, I spend the whole time taking notes and pictures so I could show the girls when I got home. The phrase, they would love this, came out of my mouth a lot. I think the art museum in Worcester is at the top of our to do list. Becuase they really would love it. I also love spending time with my friend, who found an amazing mexician resturant that we ate at. I love guacamole and they make the best I have had in a very long time, maybe ever. They made this devine mix of guacamole with pepper honey and dark chocolate. Yes you read that right. Dark cholocate. It truly was the best guacamole I have ever eaten and the entree was good too.

Round one

Sickness has hit the house or more correctly the family. Usually these things begin with the younger ones and work there way up or Dan so kindly brings something home from some trip. This time it started with Anique and moved to Micah and now Toran has it. What is it you are wondering? It is a nasty cold like illness that hits hard and lasts a long time (or so I am told). We have quickly added vitamin c, echinacea and elderberry. Anique has been sick for four days and we started seeing an improvement on the morning of day three. She isn't what I would call well but she can function. Toran has been hit hard but I think it is because she won't take the vit. C as well as everyone else. I hope I can keep from getting it. Colds and asthma don't mix well and I just don't want the hassle. I am grateful that this weekend is general conference and we can stay home to watch it may help break the cycle of spreading this wonderful fun. I foresee Lysol and laundry in my future. It just isn't fun when sick comes to visit.

It's a hard day when...

Toran's birthday was last Sunday. I asked her what she wanted for her birthday and she said she wanted a bike with rainbow colors and glitter. So that's what she got. Oh and a helmet of course. Can anyone tell me why the helmet is so expensive? It's almost as expensive as the stinkin' bike. Anyway I digress, back to the bike. Toran invited some friends to join us for cake and ice cream and presents, it was great fun. When she opened the bike she was very excited and Anique started right in on putting the bike together for a late night ride. She demanded that there be no training wheels. Well after the first five minute biking adventure she was ready for those training wheels. She was very proud of her ability to ride all by herself. After many days of riding her bike from the first possible moment of the morning to the last glimmer of sunlight, she came in one afternoon and fell on the couch. She burst out saying "I am soooo exhausted! I've been puddling and puddling all day."

Taken by surprise I asked "what did you say?".

"I've been puddling and puddling on my bike and I am tired, I need a brake."

"Puddling and puddling, huh."

"Yes, I was turning this way and that way and puddling as fast as I can (arms and legs moving in a wild and fast motion to demonstrated just how fast she is) and now I need a brake."

"Oh, ok then." I say trying so hard not to laugh out loud to much.

So if you are puddling and puddling as fast as you can, you may need a break and a Popsicle according to Toran.

Christmas

With Christmas landing on Sunday this year the timing of opening presents changed. Instead of getting up at dark o'clock and ripping through every gift then having breakfast, we leisurely looked through stockings at about 6:30 and then proceeded to a fantastic breakfast. After which we all dressed for church and headed out the door. The gifts remained unopened, untouched and unspoken of. When presented with options of how we would be handle Christmas morning, they decided to wait to open things until after church. Which meant they were choosing to wait many hours before ripping into those presents. Even Toran agreed that it was a good idea to wait. So they waited until about 2 o'clock that afternoon to open gifts. All of the pictures still show them in their pj's because when we got home from church they quickly changed right back into them before eating lunch. I hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

That is exactly what I needed.

About a month ago Kali came running in yelling "I have found one! I was looking and looking and I found one." I couldn't figure out what she was talking about when she thrust into my face a four leaf clover. Yep, that's right we don't have a fine manicured lawn, we have been growing clover and Kali spends hours looking for the very elusive four leaf clover. We told her she would probably never find one, good thing she didn't listen and kept looking. We did facilitate her discovery by spending no time whatsoever on the so called lawn. Other than mowing every once in awhile. She is very welcome for the "Luck of the Irish" that is to come her way.

BIG NEWS!!! KIAH IS 12

I have put off writing this post for many reasons. One being that if I ignore it long enough maybe it won't really be true, I can't possibly have another child entering Young Women's. Two, she is the one most like me. Yes, she has my quirky sense of humor (read sarcasm), she sounds like me, she looks like me, she is my mini me. Needless to say we butt heads a lot. I know that is shocking. Of course when we are on the same wave length, there isn't anything the two of us can't do. We can read each others thoughts and feel each others pain.

I probably "get her" the best of all of my kids, it also means we tend to argue more too. It is harder for me to write about Kiah because she is most like me. Kiah is someone you just get or you don't, there is no middle ground. To most people she is ambiguous and amoeba like, but to me she is a very easy read. She is loyal to a fault, she is kind, she is creative and loves to work in 3D. She likes to create and make something out of things most people would never think of using as craft material. She is a thinker, she is reflective and ponders on things that many great thinkers have only scratched the surface of. She definitely thinks out of the box. She loves to cook (we are all grateful for this one). She makes the best beef stew ever. She likes to bake and make a mess of the kitchen and come up with things to please others. She adds lots of love to whatever she makes. Her cookbook collections is already better than mine. I could totally see her writing one someday. She hopes to go to culinary school someday and become a pastry chef or own her own restaurant. I say do both, as long as mom eats for free. She is passionate, full of fire and ambition. She is also timid, cautious, tentative and slow to warm to new people or situations. I have to say this has served her very well through out her young life. She is a great judge of character. I often look to see how Kiah reacts to someone before giving a final clearance. Kiah is someone who will give you her last dime, last meal, shirt and coat, and last breath if you need it. So it is good that she is a little slower to make a friend because once you have reached the inter sanctum of her circle, you are there for life and she is there for you.

She loves a good game of anything. She is very competitive and will not give up an inch for anyone or anything. If you win playing against Kiah, it is a well fought battle. Thankfully she is usually a pretty good loser if she loses. Kiah has always been my lover of the outdoors. She is most happy exploring the woods or streams. She loves to ride her bike, roller blade, jump rope, chase sisters. Of course as she enters these soon to be teen years she is discovering the arts of the home. She is becoming very capable in caring for and beautifying a home. She enjoys caring for younger kids and babies and can't wait to begin babysitting. It is fun to watch her grow into womanhood and to begin an amazing journey into discovering herself. If the past is any indication, she will be a witty, smart, funny, capable, handy, beautiful daughter of God.

Snowtober

Just when I was thinking that autumn was in full swing and the joy of the season was upon us, we were hit with our first winter storm. In October no less. We were in full Halloween mode, preparing for trick or treating when from out of no where came 10 inches of wet heavy snow. Now lets remember we are still in autumn mode and so are the trees, not all of them have lost their leaves. Enter high winds and heavy wet snow. We have trees that broke, some that came down and limbs and branches down. Power lines through out the town were on the ground and we were in the dark. Of course we were at the church when the power went out. Maybe I should back up a little. Saturday October 30th was the ward trunk or treat. I had finished costumes the night before and the day was spent carving pumpkins and doing hair.

With the emanate threat of snow coming the time was moved up an hour to 5pm. We were to have chili and cornbread, play games, decorate cookies and of course go from car to car to get those ever popular treats. Sister Faulkner said the snow wouldn't start until 10pm. So when it started at 3:30pm we simply ignored it because Sister Faulkner said it wouldn't start until 10pm. We carefully drove to the church and had one of the most enjoyed times we have had at a trunk or treat. Maybe because many stayed home due to the weather so there was actually room to move. We ate, paraded in costume and then proceeded to trunk or treat around the halls because there was already many inches of snow. After that we had the fastest clean up and take down of any church activity I have ever attended and then we drove home, slowly. The snow was flying wildly at this point and we listened to Christmas music all the way home. Yes, Christmas music before Thanksgiving. We came home to a dark and cold house. Started the fire, lit the candles and hunkered down for a long night. The youngest girls were thrilled with their candy and with lighting their pumpkins for light, that they hardly noticed the cold the first night. But by morning they were asking when the power would be back on. We were all asking when the power would be back on. We ventured outside to see the damage and were totally unprepared for the carnage that met us. Trees and limbs and power lines down everywhere. We cleaned up the need to get it off the fence or the road and left the rest for later. Monday afternoon and evening our small dead end street was filled with utility trucks. They pulled new wire, put up two new poles and replace a transformer or something. Dan was sure we would have power by that night. Well we didn't. We spent another night keeping warm by the fire and reading out loud from Charlotte's web. But by Tuesday afternoon we were back up in the lap of luxury. Warm and using the dishwasher. It was an early test of winter preparedness I don't wish to live through again this winter. It may just be a very dark, cold, wet winter this year. One that I am willing to for go. Here's to wishing global warming was actually true.

What else does one do in the snow with no power? Of course Tessa has made a recliner in the snowbank and is reading. She is a true New Englander.