Barf

Mary Ann Clark, mother of 21 adopted children:

"We all have a reservoir of love that is probably endless. We're all just too scared to probe the depths and 
find out how very far the bottom is".

So I'm pregnant again and miserable. I'm pretty sure I win the award for despising pregnancy more than any other woman that ever walked the earth. Literally. I know all the usual solutions, be more grateful, look on the bright side, it's only 7 more months out of my whole life, I will be so glad when it's over...blah, blah, blah. I HATE every minute of this. My mom pointed out to me that I'm the happiest momma once I have my new baby. For me that part is easy, but the cooking it part is where I struggle. Is there such a thing as pre-partum? If there is, I think I may have that.

I'm constantly starving but all food makes me want to heave. Tim asks me if I've eaten (because it does help the nausea some) and the question makes me cry because it's so traumatizing to have to eat food. I got some intense nausea medication but it doesn't help. I'm not sure if Tim will survive this either because I'm a freak. I walk around the house with my nose in my shirt, in fear of smelling anything. I drop dead and nap for 3 hours at a time. I don't get out of my jammies. When he comes home for lunch, I ask him to take his food back to work to eat so I don't have to see/smell it. The worst part is how I cry about everything. I'll be reading a perfectly normal-not-that-sad-book to them....bawling, I will peek in on them asleep in their beds....cry. It's so annoying.

The due date for Biscuit #6 is July 12, 2013. Yes, I know, that sounds  like 300 years away. It's a good thing Ezra is so delicious. He's my reminder that this is worth it.

Projects Projects Projects

Charlie took a few days to decide what to do for his writing project. One idea he had was to tell a story from the point of view of a boy living in Jerusalem when Jesus was on the earth. I thought that was a wonderful idea but it turned out to be a little too difficult, so it was back to the drawing board. Then I realized that he can expound for hours when he starts telling us about each of his animals from his collection. We decided to take a picture of each animal and then attach it to one page and he wrote about it on the opposing page. It ended up being 57 pages! Quite a lot of writing for a 7 year old.

These pictures below are of Charlie arranging his animals for pictures. I like how meticulous he was about getting the picture just how he wanted it. The pictures actually took him hours. Charlie was very diligent about getting each animal and sticking to the task. The book turned out great and I think it will be awesome to have when he's older.

 Charlie also finished this sewing project. Jane had made a mouse so he decided on the puppy.

Jane had started some poetry in her nature notebook so we continued on with poems for her writing project. She did some water color drawings to go with her poems.

This was for our Person of Eminence day at the Alternate School. This assignment was actually a lot of work, but we learned so much. I like these kinds of projects because as my friend Eve put it on her blog, "it's about decorating the insides'--  Filling the walls of our minds with beautiful ideas and the most important truths that we can find... Over time, I'm amazed at how much they each have to draw from in their beautiful minds."

Jane presented Handel, Jacob was Gandhi, Charlie was Alexander the Great, and Scarlet was the Empress Theodora.

After the first performance of Messiah, Handel said:

“My Lord, I should be sorry if I only entertained them; I wish to make them better.”

Charlie told about how Alexander the Great conquered entire kingdoms, but he never did conquer himself. He shared this scripture, 

"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall ^again the whole world,

 and lose his own soul?"

Mark 8:36

They all did a marvelous job!! 

Fossil Day

This is the post (from I can't remember where) that I used for ideas:

Let's make sure we have everything we need:

Books to read?

Check!

Sample fossils to explore?

Check!

A dinosaur snack?

Check! 

Shells and model dinosaurs to use for impressions?

Check!

Who knew learning about fossils could be so much fun!

Fossil Dough Recipe

1 cup used coffee grounds (I used brown decorative sand from the dollar store)

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

1/2 cup cold coffee (I just added cocoa to water) 

Stir the together the coffee grounds, flour, and salt until they are well mixed. Then pour in the coffee a little at a time and mix until you have a soft dough. (You may not use all the coffee.) Work the dough on wax paper, freezer paper, etc. and then allow to dry for a day or two. We used sea shells, leaves, and model dinosaurs to create examples of impression fossils. 

Flutter

I will never get over the miracle of a caterpillar forming a cocoon and then emerging as a butterfly. This time it was Scarlet's turn to take care of her own butterflies- the three olders have done it before. I'm so happy I get to share these moments with them. One minute we were having pancakes and the next we were watching the wonders of nature change our souls. Should I mention here that I was assigned the "butterfly Gramma" that is because Scarlet is the mom. She gave them names too, all 12 of them. The ones I can remember are, Theodora, and Scarlet.

She asked me one morning, "Do butterflies cry? Yes or no?" 

An excellent question.

Moving on to other Scarlet quotes:

I recently got a report from Scarlet that while I was gone, 

"Ezra was not being fuzzy." I think she meant fussy.

She randomly asked me, "Does crying make sense mom? 

I had no idea what to say so I said yes out of laziness and then she asked, "Is that the truth?"

Now what.

She and I were driving home alone and she boasted that "I'm as happy as a skunk today."

I love how when she gets worried she repeats, "Oh dear, oh dear oh dear oh dear..." Over and over.

She has some awfully peculiar taste preferences, like soy sauce straight up, spoon fulls of salt, baby formula, and toothpaste. If you can find a pattern in those four items, let me know.

Love it!

Helping Hands

School Stuff 24/7

I'm sure all the American kids know this but we were so surprised that you actually get a letter (more like a packet) back from the President of the USA.

 Look at all this fun kid stuff! And the return address actually says "The White House". So cool- marvelous idea Grammy!

 For FHE one night, Tim thought of making prayer rocks. The kids tell us that they say bed time prayers but sometimes forget morning prayers. So now, they put their rock in the doorway each night, so that in the morning they'll see it first thing and remember to say their morning secret (personal) prayers. I got these shots while they were snoozing one night.

Lately the best spot for a movie is in the chest.

Lapbooks 2013. Jane- Oceans Charlie- Pianos

Sometimes you have to water color paint Lehi's dream in a chef hat.

We've had some yummy cooking classes this year. 

I find one of these creations daily.

This is Scarlet's "school work" She matches the clear spoon that has the lower case letter to the solid color spoon with the corresponding upper case letter. Does that make sense?

This is a GREAT place value activity. You can twist the cups to make any number and have the kids tell it to you so they practise their place values. I still have to concentrate unusually hard to get the more tricky numbers right ;)

I have been getting a steady stream of these notes from Jane. I find them on my pillow when I get into bed and they actually do make me feel super duper. It's been awesome writing practice and I use them to make new spelling lists for her (brutal, I know). I have a whole collection in my bedside drawer.

Nothing like giving kids a coconut to figure out and buying yourself a good 35 minutes of free time.

This is Ezra doing his "school". He got his first tooth this month and he's starting to stand with out holding on. Everyone in the house knows that if they teach him how to do anything, they'll be in big trouble. This guy has to be a baby as long as possible because I need a baby at all times!

Dresses dresses dresses

 When will I ever get sick of looking at dresses... 

My Julie friend sewed and embroidered this! I couldn't believe the beauty.

Jacob and Rocks

Jacob has a fine imagination so I thought the quote below was perfect for this post. He loves to play animals with his siblings, and he really loves making up new games. 

"Are you ready?"  means a lot. It means: "Can you imagine yourself in the part, do you remember the sequence of events can you feel as the character feels, can you remember the kinds of things the character spoke?" If so, then the story is ready to be played out. If the younger hesitates, does or says something "out of character," the older, who has been working on his powers of imagination a little longer, quickly corrects the less experienced member of the family.  

~ Charlotte Mason

I woke up from a nap to find Jacob dancing around in Ezra's pants!

Jacob has been studying rocks this year. 

We found this wood box at the BB- it's perfect for his collection.

We also signed him up for a rock subscription. This means every month a new rock or mineral to learn about shows up in the mail. The first month you get a collectors box and booklet.

This of course is his favorite rock in his collection because, "It looks like a potato."

Jacob legitimately beats Tim at chess sometimes. He is really fast at it and even sets up strategies and stuff. He would play chess ALL DAY if we let him! He's also become quite a Backgammon whiz. He learned at Grammy's and then we found this great little set at the BB ;)

Jacob got to visit his old pal Summer for her birthday. They don't play as much as they used to but he gets just as excited as ever when he does.

Autumn Love

                                 

According to this we've done our fare share of relishing. I have been taking knitting lessons, but it's not coming all that naturally to be honest. I really have to work at it. It would help if I had longer chunks of time to practice. I did finish a second pair of baby Uggs but they weren't any better than the first. Regardless, I think I'm moving on to a new pattern- The Brielle Slouchy. 

                 

Lots of walks with this guy or else he'd never leave the house.

Homemade hot chocolate by the Harry Potter colored fire.