Dinner in the Little House

There was talk over on the 4Real Learning forum about the size of houses. I 'confessed' that we have 12 people in a 990 sq.ft. house. I said I would put some pictures up showing us having dinner. I think this is our most crowded time of the day. Also, if you look in the background, it seems as though school is also taking over most of the walls.
We do have to admit though, that love does grow best in little spaces. Everyone is happy (and well fed).

I tried to give a panoramic view going around the table.

Schoolwork?

If one child reads a book with a spider in it,and another plays itsy bitsy spider,
and a third wears this,

does that mean we are done with school for the day?

Luke Feels Better

We took Luke to the doctor yesterday and he has double ear infections. No wonder he was so sick, the poor baby. He is feeling better today and on antibiotics. Hopefully they won't bother him too much. I will keep feeding him a lot a yogurt until he is finished with it. As you can see, he is eating his peanut butter and jelly now and drinking plenty.

Prize Winning Author

Every school year we purchase Weekly Readers for the kids, and this year was no exception. Laura has participated in a writing contest every week. This week, she was the winner. Her prize is an autographed copy of a new book and the glory of having her section of an ongoing story published on the Weekly Reader web site. She is very excited. You can read her writing at the following link, she is section 9. Read

Congratulations Laura!!!

A Quiet Sunday

We had a quiet Sunday today, which was good, especially for a sick baby. We went to church in two shifts so that we wouldn't have to take the babies out. Luke does seem to feel better. He has eaten a little and is drinking. He goes to the doctor tomorrow morning. I think he is looking real good, especially his socks.I made Grace a pair of capri pants this afternoon. They turned out real nice. Hopefully she will have a new summer top to match them in the next couple of days.

Ramblings

Today was a beautiful, sunshiny Saturday. We had a lot of wonderful plans; nature walks, playgrounds, bubble blowing, dinner with Grandma C., but, no one told the sick 2 year old. Poor Luke has had a cold, but this morning he woke up at 7 am crying and he has hardly stopped since. He is running a fever, which Motrin does take away, he has no appetite, and has a cough. His daddy came home from work early to help with him(mostly he needs cuddling) and to give mommy a break. Thank goodness for daddies.

The other kids played outside. They then came in all muddy and proceeded to change their clothes. Then they went back out. (I was not keeping close track of them all) Then they came in all muddy and changed their clothes-again. I suggested everyone stay inside and play something electronic. This did manage to keep them clean. (I have washed and folded about 7 loads of laundry today)

Becky got home from work and took over dinner, which was a wonderful blessing. I took Mark and Grace outside for a walk.

We looked at these lovely flowers in our yard and found pussy willows on a walk out in the fields. We continued walking and wandered off the main path (I know a short cut). We came to the edge of the woods, but there was a ditch between us and home. I lifted up Grace, so she wouldn't fall into the mud, I swung her over the ditch and proceeded fall in myself. I went home, and changed my clothes.

After dinner I fell asleep in my chair for three hours, therefore , it is now 11:58 and I am blogging.

Thank goodness tomorrow is a new day.

Happiness is....

...a baby and her daddy!

Spring!?

Spring has returned!! We hope. Our snow of 3 days ago has all melted thanks to the last two days of temperatures in the 60's. It has been just beautiful. The kids got outside and I opened the windows and aired out the house.Some of the kids headed out on a nature walk. They are still looking for spring for the "spring field day".

Dan spent some time outside reading.

One thing that happens when you melt 18 inches of snow in two days is that you get a real lot of mud. It didn't bother the kids at all but I did have to carry some of them directly to the tub before they could be loose in the house.

I also wanted to include a picture of Kim and Luke's new pj's because they are just so darn cute.

We would like to annouce the arrival of our newest nephew: JOHN HENRY!!!!!

Congratulations to Joanne and Andy. This little blessing joins brothers Andrew and Tommy and sister Martha Rose. John Henry is my children's 38th first cousin. That is alot of cousins.

What a Difference Three Days Make

Curious about George

Today we worked some more on our Curious George lapbook. We are having a lot fun working on this. I am very happy with the results we are getting with this kit, which we purchased through Hands of a Child.

I also wanted to show everyone our new chalkboard. We have always had trouble with chalkboards because they would stickout to far into the hallway and cause people to run into the chalk tray. This is chalkboard paint, painted directly on the wall. We were very nervous when our wall just had a big black square on it. (We figured it would never be able to be painted over if we were not happy with the results.) After it sat for 48 hours , Pat framed it with molding. It looks very nice and works as well as any chalkboard we have ever had. We also used magnet paint as one of the layers, so it is also a magnet board.

Back to Work

Yesterday was the day that we were supposed to get back to the business of "schoolwork", but because of the snowstorm, today seems to be the back to work day.

Laura is back into her lessons. She is studying geology in science and reviewing America's past in history(to get ready for testing). She has started a book study of Little House in the Highlands.
In religon we are studying the Apostles Creed.

Mark, Grace and I have started our first lapbook about Curious George. We got supplies from Hands of a Child-project packs. We will keep you updated as we progress. So far we have started the vocabulary word cards and have made these very cute monkeys.

We also have a big caterpillar crawling along our wall. Each circle body part has the name of a book we have read on it. When we get to fifty books the kids will get a present. (a new book)

April Snowstorm 2:00pm

The snow has let up, so I don't think that we will be getting much more. It is turning warmer and starting to mix together with a little rain. Nice and sticky, perfect for a snowman. Hopefully this will be the last snowman of the year.

That is one big snowman!

Snowstorm 10:30

The boys have been sent out to start shoveling. They predict 8 more inches, but I thought that they could get started.

Matt is working hard.

No picnic today.

The tree branches are all touching the ground.

Dan is clearing off the steps.

Snowstorm April 16,2007

This is what we woke up to this morning, 12 inches of snow. These pictures were taken at 7:30a.m.

Unexpected Gifts

There is nothing I can say that would show how much as unexpected gift can mean. Today my daughter Becky went on a lunch date with a girl friend and after lunch they did some shopping.
She got me a gift. There was no reason, no birthday, no Christmas, no Mother's Day. I asked her why and she simply told me that she got it for me because she wanted to.

Becky, I want you to know, I love you more than words could ever say. Thank You!

Inspired by the reading of Saint George and the Dragon, today Mark and Grace made swords and shields. Mark's shield was a good copy of Saint George's shield in the book. Grace's sword on the other hand, had a more feminine touch. She wanted a flower on hers. They both came out very nice. Their swords are cardboard and a lot of duct tape. I made Amy some soccer /capri/sleep pants today. I suggested that she wear them to soccer practice, but she thinks that she will only wear them to bed.

Friday's Fun

We read a very good book today-Saint George and the Dragon . It told the wonderful story of Saint George facing evil and overcoming it. Everyone enjoyed it, and even Mark and Grace understood the symbolism with the help of Catholic Mosaic by Cay Gibson.

Becky and I started the day by doing some grocery shopping. I think that we could shop every day and still run out of something before the day is done.


Matt, Dan and Amy had play practice for most of the day. They are in the musical The Secret Garden. It seems to be going very well. The first performance takes place on June 1.
Holy Cross Academy is putting on the play. It is the private Catholic school the older children attend. Check out their web site to see what a nice place it is.
Luke spent some together time with big brother Matt.

Kimberly's walking is certainly progressing. She took five steps yesterday, and today she took steps and then stopped and stood still for a few seconds. Of course, after Kim received a lot attention for her walking, Luke told us that he would walk and stood-up and showed us all how good he could do it. He looked a little embarrassed, but he definitely liked our praise.

Early Spring Field Day

Dawn, over at By Sun and Candlelight-has started a Spring Field Day and so for the last few weeks we have been looking for signs of spring. We are up here in Central New York and to say that spring has been hard to find in as understatement. It appears to me that it is still winter. The picture above was taken on April 7.

About a month ago it was looking like there might be an early spring. Our crocuses bloomed and the temperatures reached the fifties, but that was short lived.

We did set out to find spring. I sent kids up 'the big hill' out in back of our house. After seeing their pictures I was not filled with much hope.

I decided to head outside and really search for this spring that is supposed to be around. We were pleasantly surprised. Grace found the tiniest bit of green.
We found willows just starting to emerge. We also made our own willows to decorate inside the house.

Ever since I was a little we have fed the birds, and I have continued that tradition with my own children. Because of that, they can identify most of the birds that come to our backyard. They have compiled a very impressive list of what visits, some regularly and other occasionally.

nuthatch, goldfinch, robins, crows, chickadee ,blue jay,
mourning dove ,red wing blackbirds, cardinal, chipping sparrow

english sparrow, canadian geese ,snow geese, grackles
cedar waxwings, purple finch, red tail hawk, seagulls
slate colored juncos, turkey vultures

We were very happy to find a flock of cedar waxwings on our walk yesterday.. I got a picture.

We also got a picture of a very cold robin in the snow.

We will continue our search for spring. It will come, it always does, but until that time I think I will head over to By Sun and Candlelight and enjoy springtime in other parts of the country. Thank-you Dawn.