We Survived!

Whew!!!!!!!!!!!

We made it through another Christmas!

Everyone had a good time and no one complained about what they got or didn't get. It was a little strange for J this year. Not much for him to open since there just wasn't any point to getting him things that he would just have to box up in a couple of months and store for two years. And since he hasn't put in his papers yet and we have no idea where he will be serving, we couldn't even get him things he will need soon. So cash it was. The other kids enjoyed opening their gifts, but I think the best thing was watching S opening his gifts. He still doesn't really understand what Christmas is all about, but he liked tearing the paper and playing with the toys he got. Guess he'll get to go through all that again, next week when he turns two.

We have had a relaxing week, nothing much going on, just hanging out at home together. We did take the kids and go bowling on Wed. J bowled his best game ever, 171. He really had his work cut out for him since his 13 yo girl cousin was breathing down his neck with a 153. Fun to watch them all interact and play.

I've been busy today trying to determine what to do with Singing time tomorrow. My brain hurts from thinking and pondering it and reading a bunch of ideas online.....OUCH! But I think what I have planned will be lots of fun. I hope the kids enjoy it. The learning curve for this calling is pretty steep, especially when a person has very little music experience and/or Primary experience. I haven't taught Primary for 18 years. I've been in Nursery and been an Activity Days leader, but haven't been in Sharing and Singing time for 18 years except for a few times when I've substituted. So much to learn!

Also been busy doing more reading to plan for the resuming of studying and learning at home, more TJEd info study and C and I have also been refining our plans for our addition, which now has a deadline to be finished. Hallelujah! We have about 90 days. Of course, the actual replacement of cabinets and such won't probably be done, but the rooms will be liveable and we can get the kids moved downstairs into their new room. Can't wait to have all that space in the new dining room. I'll post pictures as it comes together.

All Ready!!

Well, the shopping is finally all done and I'm ready for the big day and not a moment too soon. Sometimes it's very difficult to keep straight in my mind what we are doing gift-wise for each child and when I get to the store I simply can't remember what I went there for. So I wander around and hope that my faulty memory kicks in or that sudden inspiration strikes. Or, I just call my DH and pick his brain, which is usually nearly as faulty as my own, considering the fact that it's three years older than mine. But I think we got all that we planned to do done, now it just needs to be packaged appropriately and set under the tree. Whew!!!

We are in the middle of two family gatherings at the moment, so I thought I'd take a minute to post. My aunts and uncles on my mother's side always have a Christmas Eve lunch. They time it that way so that people can come, eat, visit and still get home in plenty of time for immediate family traditions. It used to be held at one uncle's home, but we have gotten so big as a family that we have had to hold it at a church for the last few years. I love going. It's the only time I see most of them, and I like being able to count on seeing them at least once a year. I love that my mom came from such a large family (10 kids). There is never a dull moment when they are all together and the love that they have for each other and for their parents is abundant and spills over to the rest of us. Having the dinner in the gym at the church is great. There is plenty of room for the kids to run and play. This year someone brought gym hockey sticks and balls and nets. It was a hit. H was the only casualty, getting konked on the head with a stick, leaving her with a bump and a small cut. We also played a fun word game where everyone wore a 'penny' with a letter on the front and a letter on the back and there were six teams. A word was called out and it was a race to see which team could spell it first. Fun trying to figure out who had which letters and whether they needed to face forward or backward to make the word correctly. In the final spelldown, the Welch family team won.

We are resting and waiting before heading off to the Welch family Christmas Eve tradition. My DH grew up in a large family as well, eight kids, and they never got to eat out as a family, except once a year. Their dad would take them out to a nice restaurant on Christmas Eve. So when Grandpa W is in town, he takes all Welch relatives in the area out to dinner. This year we are going to Carraba's. Pollo Rosa Maria, here I come. I HEART Carraba's. If you've never eaten there and get a chance to, DO! Yummy food.

When we get back we will do our little traditional Christmas Eve activities. This year the girls and I will be doing a small program we 've worked on in school, reciting and acting out Luke 2 and singing appropriate Christmas hymns. I hope they are not too tired and grumpy from the day's festivities to do it. Then the kids will open their sibling gifts and we will hit the hay, hopefully leaving plenty of time for the jolly old guy to stop by.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

I'm Wondering What I've Done....

I got a new calling on Sunday. Any guesses???


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No, it's not RS president, or YW, or Gospel Doctrine, (thank goodness). I've been called as the Primary Chorister. I have no idea how to do this.

NONE!

I went to primary on Sunday just to observe and I'm wondering how in the world I will ever be creative enough to make it fun and educational and interesting to the kids. AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



And it's only 6 days til Christmas.
Am I ready? No.
Am I almost ready? No.
Have I even really started? No.
Am I nervous or bothered by this? Slightly.

I really wanted to make this a fun holiday season for the kids and do fun things, but wow, it's really just flown by and we haven't done the stories and carols each night, we haven't looked at lights, we haven't made a big deal about the Advent Calendar. We did try to make candy and it was a bust. All but the meringues. I even ruined the hard tack/glass candy.
I seriously am ready for January to be here. Or, can I rewind December and start over?????

I'm hoping your Christmas celebrations are going better than ours. Regardless, we are thankful for this time of year and for the reason for the season. After all, without Him, there would be no reason to celebrate.

Have a terrific Christmas!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year..........

And the most tiring, I think. I can't seem to find any energy. Maybe it's just that age thing catching up with me.

We've had a busy week. C and J went to work in Nevada again for 3 days, which meant I had to do all the carpool driving that they usually help with. That really cuts into my homeschool time and everything else time. Thankfully, they were able to complete all they went to do and don't have to go back any time soon. C and I have been doing some Christmas planning and a bit of shopping. We got our present a little early. Last week we went to Costco and got a treadmill. A NordicTrak commercial one. It's really nice and I'm enjoying walking/jogging on it. It gives a good workout.

School has gone well with the girls this week. We started a unit study on the symbols of Christmas, with each girl making her own lapbook. We are also memorizing a passage of scripture to recite on Christmas Eve when we have our Family Home Evening. We will be making puppets to go with it. I asked C to be in charge of putting together some activities and a little lesson about the Dutch St. Nicholas tradition. It traditionally is celebrated on Dec 5/6 so we decided to do it on the 5th. She did a great job, giving them some information about it, copies of word finds, crossword puzzles, coloring pages, having St. Nick leave treats in their shoes in trade for a carrot for his donkey, and the part they enjoyed the most was making St. Nicholas' head out of Perler Beads. She found a pattern for it on the internet. After that, they got really creative and spent the better part of two days just creating and ironing things made from Perler Beads. C even started making her own Nativity set from beads, she currently has the Baby Jesus in the manger and Mary. We will need to get more beads for her to complete them, but I was so happy to see what they came up with. On Friday we had a fun opportunity to go to the TJFA Christmas Roller Skating Party in Orem. There were so many homeschooled kids there. The younger girls had never been roller-skating before, so we had a slow start, but by the time we left, they were doing much better. Mom, on the other hand, was walking out a bit slower and sorer than when she walked in. S and I got tangled up a couple of times, when some of those little kids on scooters would zip in front of us or stop in front of us. She got banged up knees, and I got a sore wrist and ankle. Combine that with the lovely bruise from 'slipping' down the stairs wearing my 'slippers' and I feel like I've been beaten up.

The Court of Honor for J's Eagle Award will be held tomorrow. It's only been about 10 months since he completed his project. It will be good to have an end to it. I have been asked to talk for a few minutes, and I hope I have something to say. As of right now, I don't have a clue.

We got about 4-6 inches of snow today. It's a wintry wonderland out there tonight. I love to watch those big, fat snowflakes drift lazily down. I never saw snow like that when I was growing up. At home, the wind was always howling and the snow was always moving in a horizontal fashion. That lovely white, snow-covered tree look was such an amazing thing to me. To imagine that snow can fall straight down so softly and stay on the branches of a tree.

Wow, has it really been that long???

That's what happens when you leave town for a week. There is so much to catch up on when you get back that simply doing the laundry becomes the most important thing in your day!

We did have a super-fun time at my parent's home(s) for Thanksgiving. The pictures at the top are of my parent's new 'vacation' home. It was built in the 1880's by my Great-great Grandfather, Jens Nielson. He was from Denmark and joined the Church there. He and his wife and son were in the ill-fated Willie Handcart Company which was stranded in an early blizzard in Wyoming in 1856. Their 6 year old son, Jens, died at Rock Creek, as did many other people. Jens's feet froze and his little wife, Elsie, put him in the handcart and pulled him until they got help. He had difficulty walking after that and used canes the rest of his life. In 1879, he was living in the Iron County area with his 3 wives and children and was called to be part of the group that settled in South-eastern Utah. They left in Oct 1879 for what they thought was going to be a six-week trip, but it ended up being a 6 month trip, arriving in the place where the little town of Bluff, UT now stands in April 1880. This wasn't quite the destination they had been aiming for, but they were worn out and decided to make their settlement there. He was called to be the bishop of Bluff that year and served in that calling for 26 years, being released in 1906 just before he passed away. I am descended through Jens' third wife, Ane Katrine, who never came to Bluff, but stayed in Cedar City. She had ill health and couldn't make the trip. Following her death, her three children were brought to Bluff and Jens' first wife Elsie raised them.

This home was the home he built for his 2nd wife, Kirsten. It has been added onto and modified over the years. It has been a home, a restaurant and a bed & breakfast. We feel so incredibly blessed that it has now come into our family. A very interesting series of events has led to it, but it has been a blessing and we can see the Lord's hand in it. My parents are involved with the Hole-In-The-Rock Foundation, which is a restoration group, seeking to restore the old Bluff Fort and some of the homes and keep the incredible story of these pioneers alive. Their having a home in Bluff, kitty-corner to the old Fort, is so convenient for them. They often have guests to show around and they can use this home as a 'home base'. Mom has also taken it upon herself to make sure the windows in the Old Meetinghouse stay clean!

It was such a peaceful feeling to be in this home for the Thanksgiving holiday, to think of the history of the little valley and the amazing people who settled there, who we have the privilege of being related to. I was even more thankful than ever for them this year.

I was also really thankful to have even gotten there at all. I think all of our cars have curses on them at the present time. Two of them are down for the count right now, and we are borrowing C's grandparent's truck. I headed off early because the kids had dental appointments. It's a 250 mile drive and 7 miles outside of Monticello, in the middle of Peter's hill, I had a blowout. It was dark and cold and a very busy highway. I was able to call my brother-in-law and he came to help me out. While we were waiting (30 min) not one single person stopped to see if we needed help. I'm thankful that the blowout didn't make us go off the road and down to the bottom of the hill, to have been that close to home, for a cell phone that only let me call that one number (no other calls would go through and I couldn't answer any), and for a kind brother-in-law and dad who came to our rescue.

This was truly a year to be thankful.

Friday....whew!

Made it through another week. It's amazing to me how quickly they go by anymore. Must be a sign of my advanced age. haha!

The PALMS discussion last night was really good. I enjoyed it very much and was happy to note that the things the leader brought up to talk about were things I had made note of in my copy of the articles/essays. I guess my fear yesterday of not being able to read deeply or thoroughly was not confirmed. I love the reading I've been doing and the feeling of my mind and understanding expanding. It's something I've felt I needed for a long time but was not sure what to do about it. I knew I did not have the time or ability to attend a traditional college, but felt like I needed to be furthering my education. This is a good middle of the road approach for me. It's getting me to think and I'm even thinking of writing my thoughts(scary, I know) without costing me anything but time and there's no testing involved at this point.

Working on finishing up the laundry so that the kids and I have clean clothes to pack for our trip tomorrow. We are headed to Monticello and Bluff for Thanksgiving with my family. I believe that Thanksgiving is my FAVORITE holiday. I think it started because I love the food, but lately I love the fact that it gets skipped over by the marketing/retail world. I love that it's still a simple, faith and family-centered holiday. I pray they never figure out a way to commercialize it. I'm looking forward to spending the time with my parents and sisters and enjoying just being together. I have more gratitude this year for the understanding and light Heavenly Father has allowed me to have.

I feel so blessed.

I am.

What we've been up to....

Yesterday we attended our monthly Princess Academy group. My girls really like it, even though they don't say much yet. It is run by Donna, who I contacted during the summer when I was trying to decide how I was going to go about this homeschooling adventure. She was very kind and met with me to give some of the benefit of her wisdom. I have appreciated being able to learn from her and participate in the Princess Academy with my girls.

There are several things we do while there, one of which is a book discussion. This month the book to be discussed was Anne of Green Gables. I have never read it myself, so although we have the movie version, we also undertook to read it. A problem surfaced, however, when I got a sinus infection and couldn't read because I a) sounded like a toad and b)coughed up my toenails whenever I used my voice too much. Enter NetLibrary. I was so happy to see that I could download the audiobook version and we could stretch out on my bed and draw and listen to someone else read to us. I imagine we will make use of this again. It frees up my hands to be able to work on things as I listen as well.

We loved the book and tried to identify our favorite parts. C couldn't pick, she loved it all. H liked the part where Anne is floating in the barge to Camelot and it sinks with her in it, leaving her stranded on the piling of the bridge. S couldn't pick either, but I think she has had a harder time comprehending what she's hearing. She's still pretty young.

We gathered at Donna's home and we began making hats on our hat looms for charity while Donna's daughter spoke to us about Rising Star Out Reach and the woman who started it. She shares with us each month about a woman of virtue. I find her 'vignettes' very inspiring and when I asked the girls if she inspired them as well, they all said yes! I am currently reading The Small Woman, about Gladys Aylward. This is the woman Julia spoke about at our first meeting in Sept. If you're curious about her, see if you can find the movie, The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, which is about her. It stars Ingrid Bergman.

After the vignette, we eat lunch, which is a potluck. It's fun to see what everyone brings, we try to make it tie into the story we have read. I asked C what we should take and she thought we should have raspberry cordial, I laughed and said maybe we should add liniment cake and plum pudding with 'mouse' sauce. We ended up googling 'Anne of Green Gables recipes' and we found a website with lots of recipes mentioned in the books. We made Mrs. Lynde's Lemon Biscuits, which turned out to be sugar cookies. Since I didn't want to take only dessert we stopped at Costco and picked up a case of Clementines to take along. While we ate, we talked about what we thought of and learned from the book. I sometimes think I do not know how to think deeply. They mention things I never saw until they point them out to me. I think I must still just read for entertainment, rather than seeking for wisdom and truth. After eating, the girls all went back to the living room and continued working on their hats, while we cleaned off the tables and prepared to leave. It's such a good time, and I'm glad my girls like going and that they are losing a bit of their initial shyness and starting to interact with the other girls. H told me yesterday that M(Donna's 9yo daughter) is one of her new best friends. I had to smile, cause she finds best friends wherever she goes.

Today we started a small unit study on Thanksgiving. We will probably be working on it for the next few days at least, if it keeps their interest that long.

Next month's book is Little Red Buckets. I need to see if I can get it at the Library.

Tonight I will be attending PALMS (Provo Area Leadership Mentoring Society). I hope I have anything worth saying. I tend to just sit and absorb what I'm hearing. It's really so great to be able to meet with others who are striving to improve their own education as well as their families and share. I'm thankful to have a group close by that makes it convenient for me to attend.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAZZZZZZZZYYYYYY!

Sometimes I wonder where these children came from.

They can't possibly be related to me!







This is what they've come up with for fun the last couple of days.






Imagine trying to have 'school' with them in their goofy-eye glasses or wearing all their clothes and hair backwards! I didn't know today was backwards day, did you??

I guess that says something for my 'teaching', that they feel the need to liven it up!

Sweet Fall!

What is your favorite season?

I will usually answer spring if asked this question, but today I would have to say fall. It has been an absolutely gorgeous fall here, with perfect blue skies, sunshiny days, and just the right amount of chill in the air at night. I wish it could just go on and on.

Today I'm ignoring the fact that winter (winter = snow) is just around the corner and I'm just enjoying this much too short season with my family.


p.s. Did you vote?

SMART... again.

Doing fairly well on most of my habits, prayer is about 80%, study time 50% and school start time about 75%. Still need to work on them, but they are starting to become more habitual.

As I sit here thinking about what habit I'd like to add to my list, I keep going back to the ones I was trying to establish earlier in the year. The one that keeps coming to mind is not one that I had much success with, but I think it is very important so I'm going to make another attempt at it. I have been much too lazy about recording transactions in my checkbook. I just keep stashing those receipts in my purse til they start to take it over, then I shove them in the top drawer of my dresser. And when I finally make myself sit down and record them, it takes FOREVER!!

If I can take a couple of minutes each day to record the transactions of the last 24 hours, there won't be any more marathon sessions.

My habits:

Daily a.m. prayer ~ Still needs work, doing better though

Study Time ~ Make an appt for it and put it on the calendar, tell family I have appt.

Consistent start for school ~ remind girls of our routine and set example myself.

Daily checkbook recording ~ get checkbook up to date and keep it there.

For more about SHS, check Lara out over at The Lazy Organizer.

Give me CANDY!!

Just wanted to post some pics of the kids from Halloween. Our cheepy, dollar store costumes turned out great. Everyone was happy with their costumes and the lovely weather for trick-or-treating and their stash of candy at the end of the night.

We allow our kids to just consume it at will. What do you do in your family?

We used to try to ration it out, but we just got tired of listening to requests for candy all the time, so now it's eat it fast, have a good tummyache, and be done with the whole thing.

Hope you had a good one!

Halloween Scrooge!!!! That's me!

If I had to pick my least favorite holiday, it would be Halloween, hands down! I don't remember ever really liking it. I grew up in a small UT town with a high elevation (= cold at Halloween so snowsuit worn over costume while trick or treating) and Halloween was just not a whole lot of fun. Our little elementary school would hold a carnival for Halloween and there was always a costume parade.....you know the drill, witches, princesses, pirates, ghouls, etc. all parading around the cafeteria/gym so the parents could take pictures.

I was a very shy little girl and what I wanted most was to have a really pretty princess or genie costume like all the other little girls. I probably didn't tell my mom that because she had her own idea. Taking a costume I had worn in the 24th of July parade, she had me wear green tights, a leafy green costume and a leafy green hat and I got to go to the costume parade dressed as Niblet. Who? Oh, yes, the Jolly Green Giant's little helper.

I'm sure that other years I had lovely costumes, I just don't remember them. I only remember the trauma of being a little green plant for Halloween.

Since then, I've harbored much distaste for this holiday and I have not done much in the way of fun for my own kids. We've carved pumpkins every so often, we've never done a corn maze, I don't buy costumes, we don't decorate much for it. In short, I've done all I can to make it boring. My husband, bless his heart, is trying to make it fun for them this year. Yesterday he took them all the Punkinland and let them each pick out whatever pumpkin they wanted. Then he helped each of them carve them and light them to decorate our porch. I watched and took pictures.

I'm trying to have a better attitude about it. I let the girls pull out all the decorations we have (that's what you get for presents when you have an Oct birthday like me. Yay!! Not!) and dress up our house a bit. I found WAY cheap costume makings at the dollar store and today I got those ready to go. Just need to get a bit of candy and we're set, I guess. Maybe next year, I'll even spring for the corn maze................

Here's a few pictures of the kids artwork(excuse the shaky photography, my camera is not good with night pictures). Hope you have a safe and

fun(?) Halloween.

I've been on a winning streak!

This has been such an interesting year for me. Normally, I would not consider myself lucky when it comes to winning contests and things. In fact, I remember playing blackjack with my roomies and some friends when I was at college, using our spare change. I lost everything I had, everything I dug out of my car and all that my friends loaned to me, before I gave up. When I married my husband, I told him he better never take me to Vegas, cause I'm unlucky.

But this year, I have won prizes in four different blog contests. The first was on Wendy Anderson's blog and she gave away an awesome box of scrapbook supplies. The next was on Christy Tomlinson's blog and she gave me all the makings of a sweet little scrapbook. The last one I won was on Kristi Bennett's blog. I haven't received the prize yet, but I've seen pictures and it's a darling, handmade decor item. She's very crafty, hehe!

The biggest thing I've won, though, is a set of 5 organizing bags given away by Lara over at The Lazy Organizer. I've been wanting to post pics of them to show how I'm using them, but I keep changing what's in them. I guess that's the beauty of them, they are so totally usable and versatile. So I will post the pics I have now and tell you how much I'm loving them. So much, that I'm sure I'll be placing an order for some more in the near future. Thanks, Lara!

This is the BIG organizing bag. It's perfect for taking along a couple of diapers, wipes and books for a car trip or to church. I am SO glad to not be hauling around that huge diaper bag anymore.

This is that same bag, but it has my knitting in it, hopefully to keep little hands from pulling the needles out of the knitting and driving mother crazy.

This is the JUST RIGHT bag, holding the current book we are reading and writing materials to make notes. I like the vertical orientation of this bag!

This is the TEENY TINY bag and it is perfect for carrying around my plastic cards, stamps, cash and change in my purse. I like that it has a handle so I can quickly grab it out of my purse.

Currently, my makeup resides in the SMALL bag and the EXTRA LARGE bag holds some of my larger study materials. I'm sure I'll continue to use them in different ways, I'm still finding many other uses for them.

Leadership Education

In the last few months I've made some pretty dramatic changes in the way I look at education and my role in it as a parent. I made the choice to withdraw my girls from a private school where they had been attending for 2 years and bring them home to home educate them. In the midst of trying to determine what in the world I was doing, I did tons of reading and online research of different philosophies of home education. I found things that I liked in each philosophy but wasn't sure which direction to go. Then I read "A Thomas Jefferson Education" by Oliver DeMille and found there the guiding priniciples that 'spoke' to me, allowing me to pull from the different philosophies what felt 'right' to me and incorporate all of them into our home education adventure.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to listen to Dr. Shanon Brooks, who is the CEO of George Wythe College, which was founded by Oliver DeMille. The college is expanding and building a new campus in my hometown on land that was once owned by my parents and this was an opportunity to gain a greater understanding of what the college is about and how it will impact my hometown. I was so motivated and inspired by what I heard, and if I could I would sign myself up as a freshman today! But since that is not possible, what I can do is to begin to educate myself so that I am better prepared to guide my children as they start on their own education journies. One of the keys to a Thomas Jefferson Education is to "Inspire, not require!" and that is what I came away from that seminar feeling like I needed to focus on. If I undertake to educate myself and share my excitement about the learning process and what I am learning, it can't help but inspire my children to want to learn, too!

Off I go!

Sort of SMART!

How did this week go? Last week's habit to work on Study Time for me got off to a pretty rocky start. I am much too easily pulled away by my kids and all the things going on in the house. Life, I guess you could call it. I need to actually put it on my schedule, and tell everyone that I have an appt. I think that's what I'll do this week.

I started homeschooling my girls this year and we started out pretty well, but with all the house stuff we've been working on, we have lost our consistency on our start time. So this week, my new habit to work on is to:
Stick to our morning routine and start time for school
No more computer time in the a.m. for me, no more fiddling around for the girls before we get started. It just throws the whole day off.

My habits:
Daily a.m. prayer ~ Still needs work, doing better though
Study Time ~ Make an appt for it and put it on the calendar, tell family I have appt.
Consistent start for school ~ remind girls of our routine and set example myself.

Happy Birthday Snow!

Yah, it's my birthday today and what do I get? SNOW! Do I like snow? Not really. I like the look of it, it's the feel of it that chills me.

Seriously, I do like the first snow of the winter. It is always fun to sit at the window and watch the flakes fall gently down and, if we're lucky, watch them start to turn the ground white. I remember the first winter we were back in Utah after living in AZ for 8 years. The first snowfall was on a Sunday morning and I yelled to the kids to run to the window and look. I had four kids at the time and most of them had only seen snow 2 or 3 times, that they could remember. They were pretty excited. There was a little bit of excitement today as well. My 3rd boy and two oldest girls went out in it and played some football with a neighbor and got absolutely soaked. They came in smiling, with rosy cheeks and dripping hair, saying, "That was so much fun!"

I think I'll let them have that kind of fun. I'll stick to watching it out the front window, sitting right over the heater vent and wearing my favorite wool sweater.

Talk about Tuesday 10/16

He finally grew out of the little crib he's been in since his birth. Which was just supposed to be temporary anyway. When he was born, the seventh child, there just wasn't room anywhere in this house for a full sized crib. So we got by with a small one, but when we noticed that his head and his feet touched the ends of his crib, we decided it was time for something a bit bigger. Luckily, my friend had a spare toddler bed we could borrow for now, because there still is no room for another bed. Maybe when his oldest brother leaves home next year, we'll move him up to a big boy bed. For now, this works great!

SHS-Oct 13 edition

That little sign at the foot of my bed really worked well. I only missed one day of morning prayers, (today)because I wasn't sleeping in my own bed last night. C and I had a mini vacation at the Hampton Inn to belatedly celebrate our 20th anniversary. Aug was just too busy to get away.

Anyway, I'm going to add:

STUDY TIME

to my list. In trying to implement the principles of TJEd into our home and life I need to be modeling what I want my kids to do. If I want them to be interested in studying, I need to be doing it first. I have a plan, I just need to schedule time to do it, which I haven't been doing. So I'm going to take an hour each afternoon to study for me!

UEA!

This used to be one of my favorite 'words' (I know it's not a word, but you know what I mean) because it meant a break from school and, for us, growing up in the hinterlands of So. Utah, a trip to the 'city' to visit cousins. My mother was a school teacher but I do not remember her ever going to the UEA convention, which is what the break is for, but she always loaded us up in the car and headed north to see her siblings. I have fond memories of those times in the car, stopping for chocolate milk, powdered donuts and jerky on the way, with my mom and my sisters. There were also lots of fun times with my cousins. My uncle and aunt were always so good to let us come stay for the weekend. My memories include pizza and root beer from Brick Oven, (which I was too picky to eat, so I got Spaghettios,--what was I thinking?) going to Arctic Circle late at night for fries and fry sauce and sitting on my uncle's bedroom floor to watch M*A*S*H, trips to the Mall to shop and playing 'horse' on the basketball court.

UEA is not my favorite word these days. I still like the break and so do my kids, but I'm thinking I'll just start calling it Fall Break. Don't know where you stand on the voucher issue, or if you care at all, but I do not appreciate the control the UEA and NEA are trying to wrestle from us over our own children. I do not think vouchers are the magic pill that will solve educational problems, but I do believe that parents ought to have a choice and if vouchers make it a bit easier for some to make a different choice, then that's a good thing. We ought to have a right to use our tax money in a way that we think best for our family.

Off the soapbox, and back to the family. It hasn't been a fabulous Fall Break, but we have enjoyed time together. I took the two oldest boys to the eye dr. yesterday and got them fixed up with contacts and glasses. OUCH! So much for 2 pair for $69.99! Thursday evening we went up to South Fork Park with C's BIL and co-worker and their kids and hiked about a mile up a small canyon and found a nice clearing to roast a hot dog and have smores. It was a beautiful hike and I wish I had been there two weeks early. The ground was absolutely covered with red maple leaves. It would have been gorgeous for pictures. I'll have to remember that for next year. I was the lone woman, my SIL has 6 mo old twins and didn't want to haul them up, and the co-worker's wife has a 4 mo old and didn't want to bring him. Oh, well, I could have stayed home, but I wanted out of the city too!
Today we are going to go to an ice cream place. We were going to go for FHE last Monday, but it got too late, so that's on tap for today. That and going to see Great-Grandpa who turns 98 today!!!

Enjoy your FALL BREAK!!

It's a Blooming Miracle!

I truly can't believe it. After 4 years of dirt, we have a green backyard again!

I can't tell you how much smiling I've been doing at the thought of grass back there again. Smiling, that is, between grimaces from the pain of my sore arms and shoulders from raking up all the blasted rocks that this piece of ground produces.

Here's a picture of the before and after......









Before............








After.............

Sorry this is a day late for Talk about Tuesday, but, ahem, I was rather busy raking rocks.

For more information about Talk About Tuesday, click on it.

I'm jumping back on the bandwagon!

I fell WAY off the SHS bandwagon last spring when things started to get crazy with end of school and summer approaching. But I am going to jump back on this week and try to finish out the year. I figure if Lara can do it from her bed(poor girl) then I have no excuses.

I'm going back to the very most basic habit I need and that's

daily personal prayer

I've been almost 100% on evening prayers, but that a.m. prayer thing just doesn't happen as often as it should and heaven knows I need that help throughout the day. I think I'm going to write on the whiteboard on the wall at the foot of my bed, "Did you Think to Pray?" Maybe that will catch my eye as I wake up in the morning.....Can't hurt, right?

Really excited for Talk about Tuesday, as well.

Octubre!

Wow, I can't believe how quickly time is passing by. I want to make a more diligent effort to post frequently, but it's hard because my computer died and M takes the laptop to school and DH takes his to work. I usually get a few minutes on the computer a couple of evenings a week. I'll just have to remember to blog when I do get some computer time.

I think things are going better with homeschool. The girls aren't complaining so much anymore about being bored and they are finding things to do when there is time for them to do so. DH and I sat down with each of them last night and had them write down a few things they would like to work on and learn in the next month or two. Now they can just pull out that sheet when they are looking for something to do.
Today C started putting together a babysitting kit for herself. She won't be 12 until next Sept, but she's really excited about being able to babysit. She has decorated a box and filled it with lots of fun things. She'll be a great babysitter, she is very good with children.
S wanted to learn about animals and she loves to draw so she decided that she would like to make a book about animals and illustrate it. Today she cut up some paper sheets and stapled them together and drew about 15 animals in it. We need to spend some time gathering the written information for her to put in it. Must be time to visit the library again.
H decided that she would like to read more of Shakespeare's works. I do have a Lamb's Tales, which is a simplified version of some of Shakespeare's plays, which I am going to have her start reading. That will kill two birds, learning more about some of his works and getting some reading in. I think I'll also encourage her to do some oral reports on them as she finishes each one.
I am feeling so good about what is taking place here. They are starting to be more helpful around the house and I am starting to enjoy having them around me as I work. I have enrolled them in a club called The Princess Academy. It is a book review/service activity club hosted by Donna G. Last week was our first meeting and we all gathered and got acquainted and had a nice potluck lunch. I had told the girls how I needed the morning to go so that we could get there on time, and I was absolutely shocked when they all got up, ate, & got in the tub together. Then they got dressed in their dresses, fixed their hair and helped me with the veggie tray we were taking. They were then ready to do some reading so we could finish up Little House on the Prairie which was our discussion book for the month. It thrilled me to the core to see them step up and do what needed to be done without ONE, SINGLE, SOLITARY word from me that morning. There is hope!

In other news, my oldest son, J, was made an elder a couple of weeks ago and is attending missionary prep classes. I hope he has enough money to go on his mission in Feb. He also received word last week that his Eagle Scout project was accepted by the BSA and we will be having an Eagle Scout Court of Honor soon. It's nice to see him becoming such a fine young man.

The other boys are doing great in school. We had P/T conferences last week and got good reports. If they will keep up with the assignments, they will have a terrific year. They each have a wonderful teacher. Looked up info on Driver Ed and learner permits for M. We need to get him going on that soon. He's not too excited, but I need to have another driver after J leaves.....I enjoy having someone other than myself to run errands.

JS is growing up so fast. He is an absolute joy to us. He keeps us laughing and smiling at his funny words and deeds. He has really begun to talk a lot and it sure is nice being able to understand him. He got a bike recently and he loves to ride it outside. He loves books, cars and tractors, and boxes. He recently was playing with Duplo blocks and made a gun. He's definitely a boy!

We're still alive here, I think.....

Time is really flying by it seems. I wish I could think of something profound to blog about on a more frequent basis, but whew.....I'm doing good to do it once a month it looks like.

This will be a quick catch-up type of entry.

There is a little town in Nevada that I am learning to dislike intensely. For the past four weeks, C has had to go to Elko to work (doing some surveying) and I'm just plain getting tired of it. I'm sure he's more tired of it than I am but I'm tired of feeling like a single parent. I suck at it.

The homeschool adventure has been a bit bumpy. It's been a bigger adjustment for the girls and I than I thought it would be. But we had a pretty good discussion today and I think they have a better idea of what we're trying to do. I think they've been expecting it to be a 'school' at home and that's definitely not the direction I was going in. Still having trouble with them complaining of being bored...I tell them it's not my job to entertain them and that they are choosing to be bored.

The boys are doing well in school and it has been absolutely wonderful to have a carpool this year. A lady moved into our ward(church congregation/geographical unit) that also has a son attending AHS and we are splitting up the driving. I drive on M,W, and the 2nd Fri of the month that school is held. That makes for only 9 times a month. Wahoo!

I've been trying to be diligent about getting some exercise in. I have found a little circle to walk/run on through my neighborhood and today I clocked it. The part that I typically run is .5 mile. I was surprised it was that long and happy to know that I can run at least that far without stopping. Now to just keep inching up on the distance. C and H like to go with me and can nearly run my legs off me. I'd really like to try to run a 5K next year sometime.

Spent last weekend in Ephraim, UT at a CTMH retreat. I signed up as a consultant in April and I love the fun times getting together with the other consultants and being creative. We made an "All About Me" album this time and I think it will be something to hang onto for posterity. Scrapbookers don't often chronicle their own lives. This one will help my posterity know a little bit more about me. For more info about CTMH, click here.

Last, but not least, strange to think that it's been six years since the terrorist attacks on the U.S. I remember that day really well, J was home sick and my mom called me at 8:30 in the a.m. to tell me to turn on my TV. I had to go downstairs and haul the blasted thing upstairs because we had no cable or antenna at that time. We literally sat on the couch all day and watched that footage of the planes hitting the WTC towers over and over and thinking how surreal it all was, like something out of a DieHard movie. I loved the wave of patriotism and prayerfulness that followed and I'm saddened that already we seem to have gone back to our 'normal' lives whatever that is. I guess time heals all wounds. . . .

Harvest time...

Things are starting to crank out in our garden. This was truly just an experimental year for us, we planted things we've never planted before. We enjoyed the fresh peas and absolutely LOVED the fresh lettuce but those have been gone for a while now and I've been watering the corn, potatoes, tomatoes, beans and cukes.
My corn is all dried up. Not sure if I over- or underwatered it. It just turned reddish brown and is crispy dry. It has been hot here.
Everything else is starting to produce and I'm trying really hard to fight that 'Just let it go' attitude I usually have about this time every year. I love preparing for and planting a garden. Love to water and weed when my plants are small and just getting going, but for some reason, as the year wears on and the plants get bigger and more unruly looking, and it gets HOTTER, my love for gardening wanes. Usually by late Aug and Sept, I just quit watering or even setting foot out there. I'm just DONE with it. So, I'm fighting it this year, because of my goal to learn to garden better and can/preserve what we grow.

I have done one large batch of tomatoes, making salsa and spaghetti sauce out of them. But I just picked another bucketfull this morning and I'm wondering what to do with these. More salsa would be the best option I guess.

We didn't plant enough green bean plants to be useful. There are not enough ripe at the same time to bottle them. I may just pick for a few days, then blanch and freeze them. It might be enough for one meal.

I found some lovely strawberries for 3.99 a flat, so I bought two flats and we did 5 batches of freezer jam. It's been eons since we last did jam and everyone was very excited to have some in our freezer again.

We do have one pumpkin on our vine also. I guess since Sadie planted the seed it will be her pumpkin for Halloween.

My Head is Spinning.....

I have been spending SO much time trying to figure out what method or curriculum to use with the girls. There are so many choices and resources out there for homeschooling. I feel very fortunate to have so many choices, but those who know me know that the more choices I have the less likely I am to make a decision. Just ask C! I absolutely drive him crazy when we go out to eat and can't pick a restaurant. It would be easier if I only had to pick between two choices rather than infinity.

I love the principles of the TJEd, and have come to understand that I can do some curriculum and still incorporate those principles. So for this fall, we will be doing Five In A Row for reading, geography, science, & social studies. We will incorporate some CM by doing copywork, memorization/narration, and nature walks/art. The math is the hardest decision for me. The girls have done Saxon at AHS, but both of them struggle with it and don't like it much and I am trying to find a way to make math more inviting, exciting and still learn. This is hard for me, because I don't like math, or at least I don't understand it very well. So this will be a journey for all of us. I found the website, Living Math, and I think that we will get lots of info from there and we will be reading about famous mathematicians to help us understand more about math and how certain formulas were developed. I think as we develop a greater understanding of and appreciation for math, we will be ready to move back into text and workbooks. We will also be playing lots of math games and trying to learn the concepts of math that are all around us.

I am going to a homeschool convention on the 18th and hope to be able to look at some more curriculum close up while there before solidifying my decisions. Then it's full steam ahead!

The Day I've Waited For............

It finally happened! I've been waiting for Soren to call me Mama for the longest time and last night when I got back from the store, he saw me and said, "Hey, Mama, Mama!" and ran to hug my legs. It nearly made me cry!

Then, when I was hugging all the kids as they went to bed, he came up to me, threw his arms around me and said, 'Nigh, nigh!'. So cute! and he proceeded to do this about 5 more times.

He has really caught on to this talking thing. For the longest time, he would babble and we could not understand a word of what he said, but lately he has been really trying to mimic what we say and he is now speaking in English! Yay!

Just one more sign that my baby is not a baby anymore!

I'm so done!

I am so DONE with family vacations.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE all those things, but we have overloaded ourselves this year and I really need some home time to balance it all out.
We just finished up a Yorgason family reunion and my in-laws outdid themselves in it's planning. There was a great turnout and it was so much fun. My kids got to go to Lagoon for the first time on Fri. I was surprised that my boys weren't too anxious to ride the 'scary' rides. I helped the youngest girls for a while, then the tweens for a while, then spent the evening riding all the big rides with the teenagers. That new ride, Wicked, is great. Unfortunately, it lived up to it's name, destroying J's new digital camera that flew out of his pocket on the upswing. Thank goodness for a warranty. Here are a few pics of the kids at Lagoon.

Taking a Flying Leap.........

of Faith. After much thought, study and prayer, I have decided to'bring home' my girls this year and home school them. I had wanted to bring all of the kids home, but have decided that this will be a good first step.

I have been pondering the wisdom and benefits of homeschooling for a few months now, especially after reading the blogs of Lara and Montse. They really inspired me to even contemplate this move. A few weeks ago as I was driving to AHS for the uniform swap I was noticing all the homes for sale on the way to school, like I usually do. As I did this I got to thinking that most of these homes were someone's dream home and that to achieve a dream like this, a plan has to be made and followed. I then asked myself what C's and my dream was. It's a pretty simple one, we want a place with a little more land, the ability to raise a few animals if we choose to and garden more. Just try to be as self-sufficient as we can. Unfortunately, we cannot have animals here, so for that dream to happen we have to look elsewhere. Financially, that dream was a long ways off. Later that day, C had me read an article in the newspaper about homeschooling and it was like a light went on in my head and bells started ringing. I thought, "Here is the key to making that dream a reality. If we pull the kids out of school and home school them, we can use what we had been putting out for tuition to finish our addition to our house, sell it and look for another place. And if the kids don't attend AHS, we don't have to try to move closer to the school and we can look anywhere for our 'dream' property. I have also been so unhappy with the way that school, be it public or private, robs my family of 'family-time'. There is so much homework that most of the time we have at home is spent trying to get the kids(nagging) to get it done or doing it and fulfilling Church responsibilities, that precious little time is left for us to do anything together as a family. I struggled with this issue all last year and was not looking forward to the coming year. This will really free up my evenings and the time can be spent doing things that will strengthen our family, which is also a dream of ours.

I approached the kids about it and tried to explain my reasonings and the girls were willing to try, but the boys were unhappy about it. After considering all the benefits they would have to continue at AHS, we decided that it would be fine for them to stay there for this year and we'll revisit the issue again next year. M is really excited about 9th grade there, the German and Ballroom classes and extra-curricular sports that will be offered. F wanted to finish up 8th grade and after going to the Shakespeare Festival with last year's 8th graders, I was loathe to deprive him of the opportunity to do the Shakespeare production. That is something that I cannot replicate at home.

So I've been studying and reading and praying and pondering if this truly is the right thing for us to do. I read a book I've had, entitled "Revealed Educational Principles and the Public Schools" by Jack Monnett. It is basically a historical book about Early Utah and how we came to have public schools. It is full of quotes from the prophets and apostles. They counseled the Saints over and over again not to vote for or utilize 'free' public education. They set up Church schools and tried all they could to educate in the Lord's way, but the Saints would not listen and failed to follow the counsel of the prophets. At the risk of sounding very naive I'm going to tell you that I NEVER knew that the prophets had said this. As I read this book, I gained an understanding that that counsel is still in effect and that it is displeasing to the Lord to abdicate the education of our children to strangers. It is part of my duty and responsibility as a parent to make sure that my children are educated properly. Who knows or understands or loves my children more than I do? Who can teach them better than I can? NO ONE! They are MY stewardship, and I now know that I have to retake the responsibility for that.

I have been pondering my own education, as well as my oldest son's, and I can see things that happened in each of our lives that were damaging to our love of learning. Things that were said or done that made us feel like our thoughts and efforts were worthless. I have been stuggling with having one of my daughters labeled. It hasn't happened yet, but I would not have been surprised to have it happen. She learns at a much slower pace than the teachers think is proper. But she does learn if she can do it in her own time and way. By bringing her home, hopefully I can allow her(and the others) to progress at her own rate and protect them from being labeled or degraded or made to feel worthless.

So, that's my big news. I have literally been consumed with trying to learn all I can so that I can make the best choice for my family and now I'm trying to determine which methodology I think will be most suitable. It's a huge undertaking, but the peace (and excitement) I feel, makes it worthwhile.


*edited to add: This post is merely a story of my own journey to this place. I do not presume to tell people that everyone should home school their kids and I hope that, in turn, others don't presume to tell me that I'm wrong for doing this. Thank goodness we live in a place where we actually have a choice!

JULY????????????????

Someone pick me up! I can't believe that June is gone! I got next to nothing done. Think it had anything to do with my crazy travel schedule and sick family when we were home? Well, I'm using that as my excuse anyway.

One last jaunt in my future, to my hometown to attend the sealing of my new adopted niece to my sister and her hubby. She's almost 4, so this will be a wonderful memory for her to have. I love attending sealings. It's so amazing to see those children all in white.....almost makes you wish you hadn't been married in the temple, or were adopting all your children. But I only said almost. I am so thankful for the blessings we receive from being eternally bonded together as a family. I wouldn't trade that for anything.

I've been doing lots of research on a particular subject lately and at some point I'll post my thoughts and conclusions, but I will say that yet again, Heavenly Father has allowed me time to grow and learn and I have been taught some things that you think would just be common sense, yet I didn't know. I find it amazing how conditioned we are by our society to believe in certain 'norms' and then to find out later what the Lord has said about it.....I only wish I had been ready for the 'truth' before now. But that's all for now, I'll leave it at that and you hanging.................

Have a good one!

Wyo, wyo, Wyoming?!

June is scheduled to be an absolutely frantic month for me. We got back from a whirlwind trip to Wyoming on Wednesday. Mom started talking about this trip a couple of years ago, to experience Martin's Cove and Rock Creek and honor our ancestors who were in the Martin and Willie Handcart Companies, and decided that it would be good to do before J left on his mission, so this summer was the one.

So, you take 2 parents + 4 daughters + 4 sons-in-law + 15 grandchildren and add to it:
3 days
3 hotels
5 cars
1 flat/blown out tire
2 purses/wallets left behind
1 abusive waitress
1 headache
1 throwing up kid
90 degree weather
1 'broken' swimming pool
4 handcarts
1 rickshaw
1 5-mile trek
and several new air matresses and what do you get?

Sore muscles and a trip to remember! After all the 'happenings' we were starting to think that this trip might rival our Canada trip in '84 (another story for another day) but it turned out wonderfully and I think our little 'happenings' will help us remember the trip with laughter to go with the tears shed for the ancestors we admire and love. I am blessed to have a great family who would make and take the time to go do this together and for parents who made it possible. Thanks Mom and Dad, and my dear sisters and families. I love you all very much and would do it again in a heartbeat!

But it's a Dry Heat! Thank Goodness!

Wow, lots has happened since I last posted here. We got through those last crazy days of school and got Montana graduated from 8th grade on May 23rd and Jordan graduated from high school on May 24th. Thanks Mom and Dad, for making and taking the time to come up for that. It meant a lot to him and to me, too.

Just got back from spending 10 days in the suburban Atlanta, GA, area. C's parents have lived there for about 14 years now. We have never had the funds to take all of our kids and just go visit. We have been there as a family once, but so were all of C's siblings and their families and it was chaos. Fun chaos, but crazy anyway! I told C that our kids need the experience of being the only people at their house, so that they can spend lots of time with their grandparents and build bonds and memories. We asked them back in the fall where they would choose to go if our family could take a big trip and hands down, their answer was to Grandma and Grandpa Welch's house. Over Disneyland! And SeaWorld! (For what it's worth, I was with them all the way!)

So for Christmas we gave them this trip, just had to wait til school was out to make it happen. We had wanted to go during Spring Break, but that's when N had her twins and Grandma was out here, so we just waited for June.

We really had a fantabulous time. We are not hard to please and don't have to be entertained, but I think Grandma and Grandpa wanted to make it extra fun so the kids would always remember it. We visited Stone Mt. and shopped and played in water, fed ducks, rode the tram to the top and back, rode the train, visited the plantation and watched the laser show. We went to C's sister's, B's, house one day to swim and have some southern BBQ pork and such. It was nice to see their home and now have a frame of reference for them. The little girls had so much fun with their cousin, E, and even got to spend a night at her house. We went to the GA aquarium. It's big and there were tons of people. But the exhibits were great and the favorite was the walk thru tunnel with rays and whale sharks and huge fish, and the Great Barrier Reef simulation with all the intensely colored fish that live there. We walked from there to Centennial Park, where the Olympic Ring Fountain is. It was super hot and H and her cousin, E, were the only ones brave enough to go run through the fountains as the water jets danced around. They were about the only white kids there, which might have been strange for my other kids.

We also drove up to TN to visit C's oldest brother and his family. They have recently bought a new home out in the country and are trying very hard to follow the Prophet's counsel to get out of debt, get storage and be as self sufficient as possible. I was amazed at what they have done. They sold their much larger home in the city and bought a very small home with some land and I believe they probably own it free and clear or are very close to it. They have chickens and are looking to get maybe some lambs and goats. C's SIL, C, is a great gardener and has a large garden now, but is expanding it again. They have a large shop building which has an air-conditioned workshop room for R and his tools. He is an engineer and always tinkering with stuff and designing and building stuff. There is also a food storage room in there that is air-conditioned and lots of other storage on top of the workshop room. I love how they have simplified their lives and are so happy with the choices they have made. I came away from there so inspired to get my life and home in order so I can feel peace regardless of what may come.

We were also able to take in an Atlanta Braves game. I wasn't sure how the kids would handle this, since they can go quite long, but time seemed to pass quickly, and I never once heard, "When will it be time to go?" Unfortunately, the Braves lost, but they had two home runs which were awfully fun to cheer for.

C and I and his parents drove up to see the Georgia Guidestones near Elberton on Tuesday. We had heard of them and wanted to see them. Strange story and strange place. Reinforced the knowledge that there are groups of people on this earth working to undermine God's plan. The things written on the stones may sound good, but if you really look at them in the context of 'evil designs of conspiring men' you can't help but know that there really are people working for the other side. If you're curious about them, check here

The kids travelled wonderfully. On every single flight people commented on how well behaved they are and how polite. It was truly gratifying to hear that, because most of the time C and S and I were not seated near the other kids. We assigned each of the boys to be a travel buddy to a younger sister. They were to keep track of them in the airports and such and it worked wonderfully. I will have no qualms about travelling with them again.

We got home on Wed and I had so much I wanted to get started on, but I think I must have found some water from Mexico somewhere. I ended up with upset insides and today is the first day that I've had any energy or felt able to do anything.

Plans in the the pipeline are to move J downstairs and the girls upstairs so we can cut the hole through to the new girls room and get the new furnace/AC unit in and move the water heater and frame the new girls room and yada, yada, yada. I wish I could just twitch my nose and have all this work done and my house perfectly finished. I'm tired of living in a half completed home. Samantha Stevens, where are you when you're needed????

Cheese, Gromit, Cheese!

One of the things I wanted to learn about and attempt this year was cheese making. Pretty easy cheese making, but cheese anyway. My chance to do it came today. Nina has been working on a county report for her Utah History studies and her county happens to be Cache. One of the requirements is to study up on one unique aspect of her county and present it to the class. She and I decided that since Cache Cty is known for Cache Valley Cheese we would attempt to make some cheese.

Using a recipe off the internet, we got out all our ingredients and tools.

No rennet! I was sure I had read that fresh lemon juice could be used instead.....nope, no lemon juice in the recipe so I bought those four lemons in vain.

OK, send C to the store for rennet and Citric Acid.

C gets back and WOW, for the price of the citric acid, this cheese better darn well turn out.

Pour milk in pan, put on stove, go to put thermometer in pan and notice that it starts measuring at 100 degrees and I need one that starts at about 80 degrees. Hhhhmmmm, what to do. Throw caution to the wind and go for it. I figure we'll use the one we have and if it registers on the thermometer we'll know it's getting too warm.

Things are going well, milk is warming, and starting to curdle. Put in the rennet and let it sit. Supposedly 3-5 minutes for the curd to form.

3 mintes-not forming yet...................


5 minutes-starting to thicken.........................





10 minutes-thicker........................................................................






15 minutes!- finally thick enough to cut and watch the whey drain out.
We scoop out the curd and put into a colander and let the whey drain.

Wow! Lots of whey! Anyone need some????

Finally get as much whey pressed out as possible by hand, so we start microwaving it and draining it again. After 3 rounds its ready to start kneading and stretching. That's what gives mozzarella its texture, the kneading like bread dough and stretching like taffy. Well, that's what its supposed to do....mine kneaded just fine, but didn't want to stretch much. I don't know if I over cooked it or undercooked it or didn't knead it long enough.

Whatever, we salted it and kneaded it into a smooth ball and ran cold water over it and voila', it's "Cheese, Gromit, Cheese!!"

It didn't really take very long and if it tastes good, we'll probably do it again. We have lots of rennet and citric acid left over!

Anyone know what to do with a gallon of whey?

Another first for Soren!

He got his first real spanking today. Oh, I've never been so upset with him. Being the baby he usually gets plenty of leniency on things, but today he just went too far...........

My oldest son is in an Architectural Rendering class and had completed a hand done rendering that won 2nd place in a contest at UVSC and got Honorable mention at the Timpview Art Show. I made the mistake of leaving his room door open this morning, and Soren somehow got a thin Sharpie pen and added to the drawing. I have no idea if there is anything that will take the pen off it or not. I feel sick to my stomach when I think about it. J spent so much time on that rendering and now it's all messed up. Most of the markings are at the top and not on J's drawing so I think they could be removed if there was anything that would remove them. Poor J! And poor Soren! He got put in his bed and cried himself to sleep.

This is just one of my bad-mama days. Actually, it's been a bad mama month........

An end...

I believe I have nursed Soren for the last time. I didn't nurse him at all yesterday or today and I think it's a good time to just let it go. He seems to be doing fine without it, in fact, I think I may miss it more than he does.

I have savored all those moments in the last 16 months that we spent together. I loved looking into his bright blue eyes when he was just a tiny baby and so dependent on me. I loved that it was time spent with just the two of us. In a busy household, it was a haven of quiet and peace. I still love looking into his bright blue eyes, but usually he is so eager to be off to new adventures that he rarely stares back.

I will miss this time with him.

However, I love watching him grow and achieve new things. Some of his latest tricks are walking(not scooting backwards) down the steps, climbing into his high chair alone, playing catch with anyone who will play, doing pattycake with his 'Tigey', jumping on the trampoline and wadding up any loose piece of paper he finds and throwing it in the trash. You can almost see the little wheels turning in his mind, it's so busy learning and comprehending new things. He is turning into quite a ham! Anything for a laugh, and with 3 giggly sisters, that is just about anything he does.

On to bigger and better things my little one. Love ya, Soren!

Ack! Where does the time go?

Wow, has it really been that long since I had anything to say? Oh, yeah, it's really been longer than that since I had anything WORTH saying! haha!

Just wanted to do a quick update. It's been nutso-rama around here. Lots of projects due in school and last week was Teacher Appreciation week. I was in charge of it for one of my kids, F's, teacher. I'm SO SO glad it's over. I think to celebrate I will take the room mom folder I was given at the first of the year and do a celebratory burning of the folder. The last big thing we have going is the Shakespeare play and celebration all next week. M is a sea captain in the play and we have been trying to finish up his costume. I hope that he has all his lines down. I have a couple of dresses to sew for the girls to wear, since the kids can dress in Shakespearean costume all week long. It is really the great culmination of a wonderful year at school. Each day the 8th graders do one act from the play for the other students. The older children are all assigned a younger student to be their "buddy" for all the festivities. They have a Shakespearean Feast and on Fri night the play is put on for all the parents and public. My kids couldn't stop talking about it last year. The play they are doing this year is "Twelfth Night"

So I again bombed on SHS and I figure that I will continue to bomb on that til school is out. I am trying to keep up with stuff but it seems like so many things that are out of my control are taking over my schedule and life.

Got the great experience today of attending my SIL's ward and being at the blessing of their new twin boys. There were so many people there to support them, probably added about 50 people to the congregation.Their father gave them beautiful blessings and they were absolute angels. The gospel of Christ is such a blessing in our lives. The knowledge of the importance of families was manifest today.

Hey, it's May!

Wow, time flies when you're having...............fun? Is that what I've been having? I wouldn't classify it as fun, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.

For some reason the last two months of school always find me scrambling trying to keep up. There are so many projects due and papers due and activities to wrap up the year, and by the time the end of May comes I am WASTED, EXHAUSTED, DEAD!! This year is no exception. We've been pushing J to finish up his district packets and online course so he can graduate. I think he squeaked those in under the wire at the last minute. Then there were two required science fair projects this year. F has a big research paper type thing due tomorrow and I know he's not close to being done. I've been sewing and altering costumes for the Shakespeare play that the 8th graders are doing this year. They are doing 12th Night. M has the part of a sea captain, Antonio. He is supposed to have a sword fight, but there is talk of cutting that out and he is hoping they don't do that. That was what was most exciting for him. This week is Teacher Appreciation Week and I have been in charge of that for F's class. I have one more thing to put together for tomorrow and then that will be done. Hooray! And last but not least, I had to make my VT calls. I am learning how important it is to call your VT supervisor after doing your visiting teaching, since I find I'm having to do lots of chasing down of people to get their report. This is a particularly hard time of year with all the students moving and not calling their report in before they go. But it's done too.

The next things on my to-do list are making a couple of costumes for the girls for Shakespeare week, F too I guess, and getting pictures of J so we can make some graduation announcements.

At this point I am just trying to keep my head above water. Anyone who knows me knows that I can't stand to get water up my nose, which is why I only learned to put my face in the water without nose plugs at the age of 28 and that was for about 2 seconds. Hate that drowning feeling and I hate this one too! But this will pass.

On a brighter note, my FIL came by yesterday, in town for a few days, and framed the wall between my new dining room and mud room for me. It is so fun to be able to step out into that room and really be able to visualize the space and how it's all going to fit. So nice of him.

C is in Monticello today for a picnit for George Wythe College. They are in the process of trying to move their campus from Cedar City to Monticello. The land they have has been donated and purchased and it's on land that my father used to own. It's really such a coincidence, because C has wanted to attend that school for over 2 years now and when my parents told me that it was moving to Monticello I just chuckled. They had no idea that we had any knowledge of it. I'm really hoping that now the possibility for him to attend will open up and for our kids too. I am amazed at the 'education' they offer. Hope they have good weather for the picnic today.