Roller coaster

And after that lovely day yesterday? Today, I have lost all my focus and motivation. Gah! Someone save me from myself! :)

Your Big Backyard and Ranger Rick magazine DEAL!

Mamapedia has another awesome kids' magazine deal available, starting TOMORROW (May 16th)! This time it is a one year (10 issue) subscription to your choice of Animal Baby, Your Big Backyard, or Ranger Rick for only $10!

(There is a coupon code floating around the internet - MAY10 - which may take 10% off your order. But since I haven't tried it yet, I can't promise that it will work.)

We gave the boys a subscription to YBB and RR two Christmases ago, and they were MAJOR hits. (Jonathan and Thomas are constantly asking when they'll get another magazine, even now, months after the subscription ended.)

I've mentioned before how I like Mamapedia's 5% donation to charity on every purchase. And you get to choose the charity!

Full disclosure: if you purchase through my link, I get $10 in referral credit. But I honestly think that this is a great deal - we're buying it - and I hope that the information is useful to some of my readers!

A good day

Sometimes it is nice to look back over the day and bask in the accomplishments.

Cooking: black beans, dinner quesadillas

Baking: 2 batches of granola bars, blackberry cobbler (sadly, the banana muffins didn't quite happen)

Laundry: the hamper is merely full now, instead of overflowing. :)

Homeschooling: math, art, handwriting, maps, narration, reading (Frog and Toad: Spring)

Little kids: water play, playdough, baking "help" :)

Cleaning: complete kitchen clean

Gardening: cut all dead flowers off the rose bushes, and arranged two vases to bring indoors

Toward the mortgage: listed three sets of cloth diapers on ebay, sold breadmaker (craigslist)

AND we had a lunch time play date in the midst of all of it!

[if only every day could be this good]

Rose garden

Free stationery cards from Shutterfly

Need a few cards? Shutterfly is offering a promotion right now: 5 free cards (pay only shipping and handling). Plus, if you go through ShopAtHome, you'll get 20% of your cost back.

[I'm not sure if the refund applies to total price paid or only to the subtotal.]

The code for free cards is CARD4GRAD. Also, the photo books are on sale for 20% off right now, and if your purchase is over $30 you can use SHIP30 to get free shipping.

This is what I just purchased - I've been waiting for a good deal!

Blossom Thank You Card

Turn your photos into thank you cards at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

I've really been enjoying the {pretty, happy, funny, real} Thursday posts up at Like Mother, Like Daughter. This time I decided to join them!

{pretty}



Once a month the Huntington Library and Gardens offers a Free Day. We take them up on it about 4 times a year; the boys particularly love the Children's Garden. This time the roses were in full bloom! Jonathan took this picture - didn't he do a great job?

{happy}



Josiah is the happiest child in the world if you give him a bucket of water to play with!

{funny}



We're building a bookshelf to replace the one that is falling apart in the boys' room. Josiah decided that he'd prefer it to be his new bed.

{real}



What, this isn't real life in your house?

Vitamix giveaway

This has to be the best giveaway I've ever seen. Head over to Crystal's site, The Thrifty Mama, and enter to win!

While you're at it, you should subscribe to her blog. She writes a niche deal site covering healthy and organic deals, and I've found it very helpful as I try to buy organic without breaking the bank. :)

New curtains, Dave Ramsey style

I'm working hard on not spending money on things that I don't have to spend money on, in the interest of paying down our mortgage (and moving! to Oregon! yay!) But my kitchen curtains were at least five years old, and they'd been washed to the point of falling apart. Buy new ones? No way. :)



I found some pretty white fabric in my stash - actually I think it originally came from my mom's stash - and sewed myself some new ones this afternoon! I modeled them on the old ones, because I really liked them, but these are made of nicer fabric which will hopefully hold up to washing a little better.

Total costs: $0 + a few hours of time

(Honey, I hope you don't mind leftovers for dinner. The hours weren't in my daily budget.) :)

Announcing: Crowning Achievements!

I'm pleased to announce that my doula service website is up and running! Gabe was, of course, invaluable in building it, and I have a whole new appreciation for both his job and for designers...building a website from mostly scratch is hard!! :)

I'm excited to have my little space on the web. If anyone has suggestions/feedback, please let me know! And of course, if you know someone who might be interested in a doula for her birth, I would truly appreciate referrals.

Upcycled summer wear

Some time ago, a friend (I think it was Jessica?) gave me some old skirts. They weren't really wearable - they kind of screamed "I was fashionable in the 90's!" - but they were made of nice fabric and I thought I'd sew something with them.

Well. This weekend I was going through my fabric stash and got inspired. Check out the result!



For the blue one, I cut off the bottom of the skirt, and sewed the bottom trim in such a way that it ruffles just a smidge. Adds a little bit of flounce. :)

For the black/pink one, I cut off the top of the skirt and then took it in with a lot of pleats. I'm not quite as happy with this one, mostly because I wish I had the skills to add a side zipper, but it will do, and it sure looks better than it did!

I'm ridiculously pleased that investing a couple of hours and some thread just resulted in two new-to-me summer skirts!

Cheerful determination

Usually I post pictures and photos of my own kids on my blog. But today, I just have to send you over to The Joy and the Care.

Bethany was my first roommate during college, and she was (and is!) a lovely person. I enjoy keeping up with her precocious girls via her blog, as well as reading Bethany's reflections on motherhood. She's an insightful woman. In this video her youngest, Jane, is featured demonstrating the most cheerful determination I've ever seen. Edifying baby video - what could be better?! :)

Catching on...

Jonathan finished today's schoolwork during his morning quiet time. This afternoon he asked, "Mom, if I do tomorrow's schoolwork right now, then would I have the whole day to play?"

It has been a bit of a rough year, homeschooling, but I think that Jonathan is starting to see some benefits of staying home!

Perfect Beef Stew

One of my favorite new recipes from our Lenten meal plan: perfect beef stew. I adapted a whole slew of recipes and we absolutely loved the result!








Ingredients

* 1 lb beef chuck, cubed
* 6 tablespoons whole wheat flour
* 2 teaspoons salt
* 1/4 teaspoon pepper
* 3 tablespoon butter
* 1 onion, diced
* 3 cloves garlic, crushed
* 4 cups water
* 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
* 1/2 teaspoon oregano
* 2 bay leaves
* 3 carrots, cubed
* 2 stalks celery, sliced
* 4 small-medium potatoes, cubed

Directions

1. Mix flour, salt, and pepper in a bag. Dredge beef cubes in the flour mixture. Brown beef with onion and garlic in a medium stock pot.

2. Add water, Worcestershire, oregano, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about an hour.

3. Add carrots, celery, and potatoes. Simmer until soft (about one more hour)

Hungry!!

"Mom! When are you going to feed me breakfast???"

"I did feed you breakfast. You ate three waffles."

"That wasn't breakfast, that was a snack! Can I have oatmeal now?"

Making do

I've been feeling very cramped in our two-bedroom condo, lately. It seemed that there just wasn't ever enough space to give to the children that needed it (much less myself!) The boys were fighting a lot because they just seemed to bump into each other too much...and often literally! I was tired of breaking up fights, and tired of quiet time not really being quiet - with three boys in one bedroom, quiet time really had become one more hour of "Mom, he hit me!" "Mom, he's making noise so I can't hear the story!" "Mom, make him stop!"

For awhile we seriously considered buying a larger house. We had a realtor helping us, and we actually found a perfectly beautiful house that I loved. We almost offered on it, but ended up deciding that the financial risks involved (especially the need to rent our current condo) were more than we were comfortable with.

So since we're still here, in our feeling-tiny condo...we're getting creative and making do. Last week we moved half the bedroom furniture around. Now Josiah and Thomas are sharing the "kid" bedroom, with Thomas on the top bunk and Josiah on the bottom. The changing table with both boys' clothes is also in there now, along with most of the toy bins.

Jonathan is sharing our bedroom. We've shifted some of our furniture so that there is room in what used to be the "crib corner" for a toddler mattress for him. The bureau with his clothes has been moved in, as well as his little table/desk and chair. And I rearranged our linen closet so that he has his very own shelf to keep his special lego and other toys.

I think that it is going to work out beautifully. Josiah and Thomas don't bother each other as much as Jonathan and Thomas do, so sharing a room works better for them. They're also the kids that are more likely to need a nap during the day, and who go to bed earlier in the evening.

Giving Jonathan his very own space in our room makes him feel special and meets his strong need for personal space. He can go into our room and close the door without shutting the other boys out of their room/play space. While there are obvious downsides (lack of personal space for Gabe and I, primarily!) I think that overall this is going to be much better for the family.

And it won't be for forever. We're planning to do this for two years: pay down our mortgage as fast as possible (Dave Ramsey style) and then move out of state to somewhere prettier, roomier, and cheaper (probably Oregon). I like having a plan, especially one that Gabe and I are both in agreement on.

Until then, we're making do!

What we've been doing...

My mother and sister have been talking about me behind my back. They agree that I don't blog about our doings often enough. :)

So...here's what we've been up to in the past few weeks:

Jonathan turned 6!



We had a fun, laid back party at a local park.



Fed the ducks.



Played Duck, Duck, Goose. (Yes, me too!)



I love doing park parties. They're not wildly expensive, I can throw one together in about a week, and everyone has a blast.

We're doing a lot of homeschooling. I feel like we're finally hitting our stride there (finally!) and I'm enjoying it.

We caught a caterpillar and made a house for it in a jar. Within the first hour it escaped through the air hole (???) and I found it crawling across the table! We put it back and gave it smaller escape air holes. But in the evening Jonathan was very concerned that the caterpillar would be lonely for his family. So we let him go home. :)



We're working our way through the list of thank you notes for writing and art:



Math pages every day (aw, MOM!)

And the most wonderful field trip ever; a working farm!









Jonathan even got to milk a cow!



For the last week we've been following up the field trip with related activities. We've learned about wool; all the processes that take it from the sheep to the jacket. And we made butter out of cream! (Mom, remember when we did this? I do!)







It was delicious. :)



Josiah isn't doing "school" but boy is he learning! He figured out how to use a hammer:



And loves to "make soup" outside while I'm cooking.



Thomas has his very own workbook (he loves to "do school"!) and of course, comes along on field trips. He's loving being in preschool.



That's more or less our life right now! Celebrate the special days, explore the world, and (I) try to keep on top of the laundry pile. :)

The good guys always win

We've been watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as a family for the last few days. This afternoon we got to the first really frightening part, and Thomas was distressed. "I'm scared that the soldiers are going to kill the good guys," he told me during dinner.

"I'm going to let you in on a secret, Thomas," I said. "Is it a good story if the good guys get killed?"

"No."

"Do you think that the people who made the movie wanted it to be a good story?"

"Um," he thought for a moment..."yes!"

"So do you think that the good guys are going to get killed?"

Thomas' eyes absolutely lit up as he cried "No!!!"

You've just got to love Socratic reasoning with a four year old. :)

Homeschooling lecture by Susan Wise Bauer

Last night and this afternoon I listened to a lecture by Susan Wise Bauer (of The History of the World fame). She was speaking on "Homeschooling the Real (Distractable, Impatient, Argumentative, Unenthusiastic, Non-Book-Loving, Inattentive, Poky, Vague) Child".

Don't you just want to hear that? :)

I have a tendency to imagine that homeschooling is just going perfectly in every home but my own. Especially in the homes of people like Susan Wise Bauer! It is kind of nice to have that little fantasy smooshed. In fact I do not have the only argumentative unenthusiastic non-book-loving child in the homeschooling world!

Her main suggestion was this (paraphrased, of course):

Look beyond the symptoms (argumentative, restless, etc.) to the character trait (which could actually be good!) that is manifesting in these symptoms. Then tailor your education to the character trait, instead of just pushing against the problem.

Then she gives lots and lots of specific strategies, including one which she calls “nibbled to death by ducks”. You'll have to listen or you'll forever wonder what that means. :)

And toward the end, the reminder (paraphrased):

Don’t forget that you are free. You don’t have to do school for 12 years, or for a certain number of months, or in a certain order. As long as you’re moving toward a definable goal, you can do anything you want.

(Coming from the woman who wrote The Well Trained Mind, that was especially freeing to hear!)

All that to say that I highly, highly recommend this lecture for anyone currently homeschooling. It is a well-spent $3.25.

National Geographic Little Kids DEAL!

My boys think that getting magazines in the mail is THE coolest thing EVER. We get the free Lego magazine (sign up here if you haven't already) and we've purchased subscriptions (Ranger Rick, etc.) for them as gifts in the past. They just love it.

So I was really pleased to see this deal that Mamapedia is offering TOMORROW (April 14th): a one year (6 issue) subscription to National Geographic Little Kids magazine for only $10. If you've never purchased from Mamapedia before, it gets even better: you can use the coupon code NATGEO3 to lower the price to only $7. (I've also heard that you can use MOMS5 to take $5 off the purchase price, but I can't confirm that one personally.)

(If you aren't a first-time buyer, you can use the code EASTER10 to take 10% off, making the price $9)

Something I like about Mamapedia is that every time you make a purchase through them, 5% off the price gets donated to a charity of your choice, and it is easy to choose a charity and set that up.

Full disclosure: if you purchase through my link, I get $10 in referral credit. But I honestly think that this is a great deal - we're buying it - and I hope that the information is useful to some of my readers!

Awesome Biola

A couple of weeks ago, I got a call from a sweet college student from Biola. We were in the midst of bedtime, so I told Christine that I'd be happy to talk with her, but could she please call back in 20 minutes? She did so, and we ended up donating a modest amount to the Biola Scholarship Fund.

I expected a receipt for tax purposes, of course, but look what we received!



A formal letter from the Biola Alumni office (including our credit receipt), a handwritten note from Christine, and a post it note from an acquaintance who works in the office!

Gabe and I were seriously impressed. That is the way to get repeat donors! Good job, Biola - we're happy to invest in your future and that of your students.

Bidding frenzy?

Currently on ebay:

$5 amazon gift card
Current bid: $10.50

$10 amazon gift card
Current bid: $31.00

$25 amazon gift card
Current bid: $53.00

$50 amazon gift card
Current bid: $102.50

I keep hearing how Americans aren't very good at math, but this seems on the outside of crazy!

(Perhaps I should start selling gift cards on ebay...!)

Sweet little voice

Something I'm loving right now? Josiah learning to sing. He sings with me at bedtime: "Baby Mine, don't you cry..." ("cryyyyyy"). He sings to himself while playing during quiet time. Right now a favorite seems to be "Happy Birthday", although all that is actually sung is "happy birthday, yoooouuu..." This morning we went house-hunting, and on the way he sang "house, house, house, house, house..." on a different note each time. I just heard, from the bedroom, "Jesus loves me, Bible tells me so..."

I think baby voices, singing, is one of my favorite sounds in the whole world.

P.S. No more pacifiers

Josiah's graduation party also marked a momentous occasion: he gave his pacifiers to Mrs. Heather. We talked with him about the idea for about three weeks leading up to the big day. Then we brought out a colorful gift bag and encouraged him to drop his pacifiers in while Heather held it. He didn't mind putting in the first two, but the last one took some extra encouragement! I wasn't sure he'd do it! But he did finally decide that yes, he really is a BIG BOY and doesn't need them anymore, and he dropped the last one in her bag.

Bye bye pacifiers.

So far we've managed two naps and two bedtimes without them. He's a little sad, but less so than I was expecting. I think this way of letting them go was a good one.

Josiah's graduation!

We have been so blessed in our speech therapist, Heather Lovejoy. We started working with her nearly 2.5 years ago, back when Thomas needed help. Just a few months after he finished, Josiah started therapy. Week after week after week, Heather showed up at our house, always patient with the boys and often including brothers in the therapy play. Josiah loved her, and would grin and run to the door when he heard her knock.

A year ago, this was Josiah's language:

“oooh”
“oh”
“Mama” (no relationship to me)
"Dada" (no relationship to Gabe)
“doh”
"a-duh"
“ahn guh”

Today he's speaking in 4 word sentences, and I'm not the only one who can understand him. :)



Happy graduation, Josiah!

Thank you, Heather!

Free time!

All three boys are at Grandma's house today. All day. I am sitting in a blissfully silent house, dreaming up all the amazing things that I have time to do today. Read! Crochet! Watch a video! Garden!

I mean: Vacuum! Do the laundry! Wash the dishes! Clean the refrigerator!

Actually I'm thrilled to have time and space to do things on both those lists. :) My first project of the morning:



Isn't it beautiful?

Self-aware toddler

Mid-morning, I was trying to decide what we'd do next. Go out to the park and/or the library? Stay home and have quiet time first? Josiah made that decision really easy when he picked up his blanket, held up his arms for a hug, and said "Mama, need nap."

Yes, he's sleeping now. This little two year old really does have the most amazing grasp of his own sleep needs. Instead of getting cranky and waiting for me to figure out what he needs, he just tells me!

(Lest other mothers start getting jealous, I should mention that my other children do not have this skill.) :)

Shutterfly Groupon deal

For the past six years I've been using Shutterfly to create photo books for each year of the kids' lives. I love the result - crisp, clean pages capturing the year, and I don't have to put all the photos into plastic sleeves!

Because I know that I'll be doing 2-3 books every year, I'm always on the prowl for good deals on photo books. And today there is a great deal available on Groupon: $10 for an 8x8 hard cover photo book. Check it out here. Remember that Groupon deals are only available for a limited time (2 days left, as of this posting) so if you want one, be sure to jump on it.

Also, if you are new to Groupon, I'd really love it if you'd sign up through my link - that way I get referral credit!

Golden moments

These are the kind of pictures that home schoolers post on their blogs to make other people jealous. :)



Well, I suppose the result does not necessarily imply the motive.



Maybe we just all like sharing the golden moments.

This is what a cesarean ought to look like.

Child centered, mother centered, and incorporating all the best research into their methods. When a cesarean is necessary, this is how it ought to be done.



Warning: there are a couple of graphic moments showing the open abdomen.

Spring in the garden

Although the recent weather has me rather confused (it was 34 degrees just two days ago!) my garden is quite convinced that spring has arrived. After the drab winter/rest season, these early flowers are making me smile every time I look outside.









I just realized that these flowers are in my wedding colors. I think I tend to plant my favorites. :)



(Almost 8 years ago!)