A new start in 2017

I've decided to start posting on this blog again. It was originally my family blog. Then I decided to combine my family and work blogs. Well, now I'm uncomfortable with mixing work and family life. So this blog will serve its purpose once again as a place to write about family life.

As we go into 2017, I'm slowly ramping back up into school again. My kids are ages 9, 7, 5, 3, and 1. My oldest needs more pushing academically. Until now we've done a lot of reading aloud, kinesthetic learning stuff. We need to start a little more structure--writing, spelling, more history, science, music, and art. Heck, I could do a whole month on just music, I think. Or just art.

My homeschooling mojo got wrecked in October when we had to move suddenly (the full sordid tale is here). Then we had the chaos of the holidays. Now it's January, and I feel like I'm finally catching my breath.

January is always a time to find your center--to figure out your resolutions for the year, your goals, and your word for the year. My word for this year is Renewal. Renewal in our school, renewal in my marriage, renewal in my heart. Over the last summer, I would pace around our apartment complex and feel so stagnant. I had just had our fifth, and I was deep in baby-care. When you have four other littles, and a baby, you tend to do the same things over and over. Get up, feed people, do school, feed people, manage computer time, feed people, bed.

Now here it is, a new year, a new apartment, a new city. It's certainly been glorious to step outside every day and see the mountains surrounding Tuscon. I love their crags, their moody colors, their hint of adventure waiting on the horizon.

It's interesting, being at this season of my life. I'm a lot more laid back than I was in my 20s (by necessity, I think--I have to pick my battles!). I value time with my husband like pure gold. He and I are rebuilding our marriage brick by brick--it had fallen into disrepair after so many pregnancies and babies. But I think it's better now than it ever has been, precisely because we value it so highly.

So there you have it--my random ramblings. I think this blog will be a good outlet for them.

Thankful Thursday

Random shot of the kids running out of frame.

I'm supposed to keep a thankfulness journal for my Bible study. I thought, well, I have this blog. Why not journal over here?

So, in no particular order:

I'm thankful for my sweetheart of a husband.

And my babies.

And the vast bag of apricots and plums we picked yesterday. I cut up some and ate them on my oatmeal. Yum!

For the delights of being a creative family.

For God's grace to me in giving me what I don't deserve.

More later!

Stuff we been doin'

Going swimming

Building forts

Almost walking

Making (and eating) homemade donuts

Growing hollyhocks

And that's what we've been up to over the last week. :-)

School table

A neighbor gave us this little kid-sized table and two chairs. Isn't it great?

Third birthday funtimes

It was H's third birthday today. Technically her birthday's tomorrow, but we did her party today. Who wants to do a birthday party on a Monday?

She got lots of ponies.

Played with her three-year-old cousin in the dollhouse.

C. thought it was great fun.

A. petted his new baby cousin.

My nephews have no sisters, so girl toys like dollhouses and My Little Ponies were completely new to them.

It makes her so self-conscious to be sang Happy Birthday to.

Almost candle time! And out they go.

And the babies kick back with their mama and grandma.

It was a very nice party.

Precarious

I turned around and found the youngest munchkin perched in the back of this truck. I grabbed my camera and snapped a picture shortly before she fell out. But she sat there for a long time, perched all precariously and very proud of herself. I don't know how she got up there in the first place.

This is how I feel like my life has been. Hanging somewhere between sitting in the truck, and falling on my face. I've fallen several times already. I took the weekend off all of my artistic endeavors because I was so tired. It was nice to rest. I did get some strawberry jam made.

It's lovely and delicious, but it didn't set up very well because I didn't let it cook long enough. I also was using powdered pectin, and my results are always variable with powdered pectin. I contemplated using a couple of lemon peels instead. I might do that next time. Do you think strawberry would taste all right with a hint of lemon?

Life goes on, and God is good. I wish I trusted Him enough to not worry. I feel like worry is a constant illness I hold at bay by not thinking about it.

Fun in the sun

We've had beautiful weather lately. When it gets hot so fast, though, the kids are so hot and sweaty that I take pity on them. And pitch them outside with buckets of water and toy cups.

This picture was taken shortly before they gathered mud into the buckets and slathered themselves in it, like they do at a spa.

I have pictures of just two munchkins doing this. Check it out.

They were so tiny! Such cute little munchkins!

Washing the car

Today, the kids and I washed the car.

 Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of us actually washing it because it didn't cross my mind. Also, cameras, small children and water buckets are a bad mix.

We just got buckets of water and dish soap, and dishcloths, and washed the car like it was a giant dirty dish. We soaped it, then rinsed it, then dried it. We didn't get it quite as sparkly as it would have been had there been a garden hose available, but we did get the mud off from all that rain last week.

Also, the munchkins thought that washing the car was terrific fun. All except the youngest, who had to stay inside with Daddy.

Speaking of the youngest, she's decided that she likes eating snails.

She had one last night and another one this morning. I don't know where she keeps finding them! The dumb things must slime up and stick to the inside of the door. I had opened the door this morning for the fresh air. The next thing I knew, she has bits of snail shell all over her little smiling face, and a slimy snail gripped in her slimy hand.

Snail slime doesn't come off easily. Even with soap.

Isn't your day brighter now that you know that fact?

Easter weekend

We had a nice Easter this past weekend. Gorgeous sunny weather, kids who love, love, love hunting Easter eggs, and uncles who don't mind hiding them.

My mom cooked dinner for us, and all of us kids got together with our assorted munchkins. I swore I took more pictures, but I guess I didn't. There were a few other ones (I have one hilarious shot of Alex sneering his nose while holding up an egg full of candy, but it's not blogworthy).

 I've meant to blog about this all week, but that meant sorting through my (lame) pictures and looking for ones that weren't lame. We had such a nice time, and my pictures don't convey that.

Good thing it's not this weekend! It's supposed to rain and thunder.

Happy Easter and birthday baby

Happy Easter, everybody! Yesterday was the baby's first birthday. Here she is, enjoying her obligatory birthday cupcake.

The next time she has an Easter birthday, she'll be old enough to really enjoy it. Presents and extra candy!

Hope you all have a very blessed Easter Sunday. :-)

Fun with hats

The other morning, the munchkins started playing with this tiny toy hat while we were getting dressed. It wound up on the baby's head, and she was so proud of herself, I had to take a picture. Look at her new teeth!

The older ones had to take their turns with the hat, too.

I got this picture right as the hat fell off her head. You can't tell it's in motion here, but it was.

It's fun trying to be quick reaching for the camera. I snap the oddest moments. We do have so much fun all the time.

Kid art

This is one of those odd pictures my children took. I was straightening out her hair, while she screamed at her brother, "Don't flash my eyes!" See the camera flash? He did it anyway.

Lately the munchkins have discovered watercolors. We've had to do at least one watercolor painting a day. I've been teaching them how a brush is different from a pencil, and in general my inner art teacher is rejoicing.

Since the weather has warmed up and the time changed, I've been able to pitch them outside for hours. We scored some sidewalk chalk, and I sensed lots and lots of outside time.

Then I walked outside and discovered that they had covered the entire 30 feet of sidewalk with chalk scribbles.

 So we took a bucket of water and some brooms and scrubbed off most of it. It was actually a nice excuse to get out in the warm sun and mess around with water. The baby thought the water bucket was her plaything and was soaked by the time we finished.

So that's been our last couple of days. Never boring!

Thankful Thursday

I kind of feel like this today. Deer in the headlights. With feet.

So I thought it'd be nice to list off all the things I'm thankful for. Nothing like giving thanks to change your mood, right?

I'm thankful that it's finally spring.

I'm thankful that the kids can finally play outside.

I'm thankful that I've not had to miss buying groceries one single week.

I'm thankful for the internet and its millions of recipes.

I'm thankful that we haven't had a serious illness in months. Like the flu.

I'm thankful we live in California. No killer tornadoes. Mild weather. Early fruits and veggies.

I'm thankful that I'm married to my sweetheart.

I'm thankful for my kitchen appliances that make my job so much easier.

I'm thankful that little things, like play a game with my hubby, or helping him paint his models, strikes him as incredibly romantic.

I'm thankful that the kids are so happy with simple things, like sidewalk chalk and books and playdough.

I'm thankful I have children, because seeing them grow and learn to do things (like read) is so incredibly gratifying.

What are you thankful for?

On chocolate and books

Patrice had good questions this week, so I thought I'd take a crack at Farmhouse Chats.

What was your favorite book as a child?

I had varying degrees of being a child, so I had varying favorites. For instance, when I was little, my favorites were The Bike Lesson and Go, Dog, Go. Then as I learned to read on my own, I had all kinds of favorites. I remember being absolutely in love with Kavik the Wolf Dog, by Walt Morey. I just loved going with Kavik on his 2000 mile journey because it fascinated me so much.

 Later on there were the Melendy books by Elizabeth Enright. Hands down the best kids stories ever, even better than Beverley Cleary (although I do have a soft spot in my heart for Henry Huggins).  

Dark chocolate, Milk Chocolate, or White Chocolate?

 I prefer milk chocolate, the cheaper, the better. White chocolate is okay, for instance, white chocolate chips in a big old chocolate cookie. Yum yum. Dark chocolate is too bitter for me, except in chocolate chip cookies with dark chips. Then it's absolutely divine.  

What's your biggest "pet peeve" when it comes to your kitchen?

 That it's dark. It gets depressing cooking away in the darkest room in the apartment. Also it gets really hot in there. We got a little graph from our electric company about our average daily electrical uses, and there's a big spike at breakfast and dinner, when I run my stove. Well gee, you think?  

Do you use any type of water filter in your home? (Whole house, faucet mount, or pitcher)

 Just a pitcher with a filter that's long past dead, because filters are so freaking expensive. But it still improves the taste of the water.  

What's the herb you use the most in cooking?

Chili powder and cumin. I cook a lot of Mexican dishes, and I'm always running out of those. Also onions, garlic, and oregano. Maybe oregano is the most used, because it goes into the Italian dishes as well as the Mexican ones.

 Thanks for the chat this week, Patrice!

Rainwater

Our lovely storm flooded the sidewalk yesterday. The munchkins went out and played in it for a while.

This was only minutes before they started running up and down the sidewalk in the water. I didn't take pictures of that, though.

Here's the baby wishing and wishing she could go outside, too.

It's been a nice storm. I feel bad about it, though, because it'll cause horrendous tornadoes across the rest of the country. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm not responsible for the weather.

Busy day

It was a gorgeous day today. We have a big storm coming in, so the morning and early afternoon were deliciously warm.

A neighbor gave us a tricycle, so we took it to Grandma's where there's lots of room to ride it.

We're still working on the idea of pedals.

Here's little missy, attempting to stick a leaf to her foot or something. This was her "bike" while big brother rode the trike.

While the baby ate dirt, chased the dog, and watched mama and grandma chop weeds.

Chopping weeds is therapeutic, somehow. I don't know if I'll be able to move tomorrow, but it was worth it.

Springtime sun

It's been in the 70's out here in southern Cali. (Disappointing, really ... we've had like zero winter and this is looking to be a dry, hot year.)

The upshot is, the kids can play outside. Mommy owes her continued sanity to the outdoors.

This is the munchkins dipping the brooms in a puddle and "painting" the sidewalk. The baby stuck her hands in it until the jibblies overcame me, and I dragged her inside to wash her hands.

Munchkin #2 is undergoing potty training. She's almost got it after only three or four days. I just have to harp on her all the time about if she needs to go, because she forgets. I'm sure after a month, she'll be good. That's how long it took munchkin #1.

Alex turns 5

Alex turned 5 yesterday. Since his cousins' birthday is two days after his, and his aunt just had a baby, we decided to combine birthday parties. Alas, I forgot to take my camera. But there were bubbles. And nerf guns. And cupcakes.

It was very pleasant, and the munchkins had a good time. Hopefully we didn't exhaust poor new mamma too badly. I got to see my new nephew and he's a sweetie.

Still no rain

We keep having storms that sweep over California. Each time the weathermen sigh and pronounce them "moisture starved".

See this cloud?

This was after a big ol' storm in which we got sprinkles. Not enough to even get the sidewalk wet. I think the Texas drought has moved to Cali.

The sun was bright.

And the smallest munchkin desperately wants to be outside. She escapes whenever I open the door. Fortunately, crawling babies don't move as fast as say, a running cat or dog, and I can catch her before she goes too far.

Also the older ones stand and yell, "Baby's escaping!"

I say come on March, and let's have some Spring. Maybe we'll even get some rain out of the deal.