Girls Club at Our House!

We had a really fun activity at our house on Friday.

Louisa is a part of a "Young Americans Girls Club" made up of several homeschooled girls. Every month they study the life of a different famous American lady-heroine. Then one Friday a month, we all get together for a three hour meeting where we do projects, games, and discuss the life of this person and how they have inspired us. It has been a wonderful experience for both Louisa and I. We have studied Helen Keller, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Louisa May Alcott, and several others.

So this last Friday was our turn, and we had studied all about the life of Amelia Earhart. I read several biographies on her, and really enjoyed learning about this amazing woman. She was so brave and courageous to try so many things never done before by women! She lived an incredible life.

So, here are some of the things we did:

We made "wind-socks" because they were an important tool used at airports to measure wind direction and speed. Our windsocks were sparkly and pretty and made a great whirring sound if you spun it in the air! :)

I had famous quotes put up that were spoken by Amelia, and we discussed them. We followed Amelia's last flight across the globe. We discussed our favorite things about Amelia's life. We played a great big memory match game that had several interesting things about Amelia. Examples of matches that we were searching for were "The first things Amelia built" and the match was "A Roller Coaster" or "The first thing Amelia wanted to do when she first went to college" and the match was "Be a Doctor"

My favorite game that we played was we went out in the front yard and divided into two teams. One team of girls had to put on a skirt over their pants. The other girls just had on jeans. Then we played several active games, like freeze tag. Then after five minutes the teams switched and the other girls got a chance to wear the skirts. The point was that when Amelia was little, girls must always wear dresses and be ladylike. But Amelia was quite a tom-boy and enjoyed active games of all kinds like football and mud-ball fights, and her mother supported her in this. She knew that her girl would climb trees and jump fences whether she had a dress on or not, but she wanted her girls to be happy as well as modest, and so she made for them "gym suits" which were bloomers and blouses. The whole town, and especially the Grandma were scandalized, but Amelia and her sister were THRILLED. The kids had fun with this game.
Here's a picture of one of the girls club girls running during a tag game with the skirt. I must say, most of the girls were just as fast with a skirt as without!

We also made and decorated sugar cookies in the shape of airplanes. We decorated them blue, for the sky Amelia loved, and Yellow, which was the color of Amelia's first airplane.

I had two more games planned that we never got to play, we just ran out of time. The girls got to have some free time playing outside and eating lunch, which is so wonderful for all of them. Oh, and we also exchanged valentines. It was a little crazy, but it was worth it. That is one thing my kids miss about public school...all the parties! That, and the bus rides. Angel is already begging to ride on a school bus.

The two activies we skipped because of time were: We were going to play games with walkie talkies, using them like the radios Amelia used on her flights. We were going to reinact some of the things Amelia said and did on her flights. And then, I was going to have the girls play with Morse Code. Amelia never learned morse code, but people theorize that if Amelia known it, she may have been rescued before her plane ran out of gas on her last flight. So I did hand out morse code key sheets to all the kids and encouraged them to practice spelling their name, or send secret messages to their siblings with flashlights when they go camping. Just for fun!

A wonderful time was had by all, and next month we get to learn about Sacagawea!

Happy Valentine's Day!

This is the kind of thank-you my Hubby likes when he buys me roses!

We had a nice quiet family Valentine's Day. My favorite kind!

Jewel in her high-chair

I made homemade pink waffles with strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast. It's traditional on Valentine's Day in my house to eat at least one meal that is as pink and red as possible. When I was little, mom would put red dye in our milk for Valentine's Day. We thought it was cool even if it tasted nasty. Now I do Strawberry Quik instead.

The kids all decorated homemade "mailboxes" for our homemade valentine exchange. Einstein got pretty creative with 4 empty wrapping paper rolls. His Mailbox is standing up as high as his chest, attached to those 4 rolls upright like poles...it looks pretty cool!"Just like a REAL mailbox" Einstein says!

Manly bought me a beautiful dozen red roses with baby's breath in a lovely red vase. He also bought me some chocolate fudge, but I'm off sugar again. I was going to let myself have treats on Valentine's Day, but I fell off my no-sugar kick last week when I baked my favorite window cookies for my book club group meeting. One cookie made me go crazy. Before I knew it I was snitching sugary things all the time. It was spiraling out of control in just a few days, so I'm back to my stringent NO SUGAR of any kind allowed. *sigh*This picture cracks me up. This is a perfect illustration of why Laura is doing a "NO SUGAR" diet!!! Notice my rear end? This was so funny, Manly wanted to pick me up and carry me around like he used to all the time back when we were dating and in those newly-wed years. However, after 5 kids I don't have the slight fit figure I once took for granted. The look on Manly's face as he's trying to lift me is hilarious. I wanted to delete this picture, but Manly wanted to keep it "for posterity" he said. "So what for?" I asked, "So all our grandchildren can see I have a big but?"

I got Manly some "smelly" (our term for nice cologne) and Hershey's kisses. And we made handwritten poems for each other. That was the best part! I love to keep those and look back at them years later.making valentine cards

Then we had our family's favorite Valentine tradition: a family scavenger hunt. My parents did that with us kids when we were little and we loved it. At the end of this year's scavenger hunt, the family got a popcorn popper. The kids were pretty excited to watch it work and then eat the spoils! Lots more fun (and healthy) than microwave popcorn. They also got a math game for a Leapster.Duckie is so proud to write her own name!

I also got to take Duckie with me to see my parents sing in a choir concert celebrating Oregon's 150th Birthday today! Happy Birthday Oregon! The concert was lots of fun and we heard lots of great patriotic and folk songs.

Angel is in love with Valentines. Especially Valentine Candy. She asked tonight if we could have more valentines tomorrow. It's just another Christmas to her!

The only sad part of today was that Louisa woke up not feeling herself. She had a low-grade fever and a headache. She participated in the fun stuff, but she wasn't her usual spunky self. She spent most of the day sleeping on the couch.

Louisa is feeling a little bit better, but she's still under the weather.

Manly also had to go to work tonight. But we'll have a special Valentine's date another day!

Happy Valentine's day to you all!

Chore Time

Every Morning at our house, the kids have a list of chores they need to complete before we start school for the day. In the winter they all have to help bring in wood the fire since our house is heated by our wood burning stove. If only they smiled this big everytime they got wood! They love it when it gets warm enough that they don't have to bring in wood anymore.
Duckie is enjoying feeding the chickens every morning. Lucy enjoys trying to steal the chickens' food. It is her favorite past time.
Here is Einstein helping with the chickens. As the biggest kid, he has the most chores. He has to bring in the most wood, but he also has to feed and water the Rabbits. Louisa gives them pellets which only takes a few minutes, but Einstein gives them all hay which is more work and takes much more time. He hauls a big heavy wagon around the yard loaded with hay and water for each of the 10 or so cages. He's building some good muscles! He struggles with the fairness of the situation, but it's the lot of the eldest child!

I am grateful that my kids have the opportunity to have chores with real responsibility. They are doing a great job with it, and I am very very proud of them!

Angel's 3rd Birthday

Angel's 1st Birthday

Angel's Second Birthday

I can't believe my little Angel turned 3 years old! In the middle of her birthday my family was all sick. We had to "cancel" her original party and just have some family over.

Hyrum, Louisa, and Athena

At least I was well enough that day to bake a cake!
I got a horrible stomach flu virus right the 2 days before her party, and then the day after her party, Angel herself got it. No one else in the family caught the stomach flu, but they all have nasty colds, and now Julie has a croupy sounding cough. This is one of the reasons I hate winter! YUCK YUCK YUCK. It wouldn't be so bad if none of us got sick!

Angel loves Winnie the Pooh. My kids have the mistaken understanding that I can decorate ANY kind of cake. Angel has been wanting one that looks like Pooh Bear; but this one looks more like a care bear than winnie the pooh. Angel loved it, though! Thank goodness! I overbaked the vanilla cake and ruined it, but at least kids' tastebuds are undiscriminatory when it comes to Sugar!After watching all her siblings get birthday parties, balloons, and presents, she was pretty excited about being in the SPOTLIGHT! She laughed and giggled the whole time we sang Happy Birthday to her.She eventually figured out how to blow out all those candles! It took a few tries, though.Cousin Hyrum gave Angel a BackYardigans radio that Angel loves and her siblings play with too! Very fun for kids, very loud for parents. Especially the microphone part of it!
Angel, the POOH BEAR lover! We decorated her bedroom with pooh bears. (except now it's Jewel's room and Angel is with the big girls) She has a little stuffed pooh bear she sleeps with every night. But now she thinks that ANYTHING with any pooh bear emblem in our house belongs to her. When she sees it she says, "OH! That's MY pooh bear."

Overall, it was a very happy day, and Angel was a very happy girl.

It isn't easy being THIRD

It Isn't Easy Being THIRD!

Duckie is the classic third child...and a perfectionist to boot! That makes for some very unhappy moments at our house. I feel so bad for her, and yet I struggle to know how to help it get better.

Einstein and Louisa share the position of oldest child. They can both be power-hungry, ambitious, bossy older kids. They are very good at leading out, and they want everything to go their way. (Clash of the Titans!) When it comes to schooling, they are very closely matched in ability. Partly because Louisa was so advanced in learning to do things such as read, write, and draw at a very early age, Duckie has had a lot to compare herself to for years. Duckie is 5, and learning well how to write, read, and do math at kindergarten levels, but she is continually comparing herself to Louisa and Einstein which isn't good for her self-image! Add into that the fact being treated as a virtual "slave" by big sister (c'mon, all you big siblings out there know what I mean "give me that marker!" "hand me the remote!" etc etc)

Duckie's favorite ride at the State Fair

For example, she wants to draw or write something similar to what they are doing. When her attempt fails, she'll cry in despair. Then she'll ask for help, but if anyone does something that wasn't in her "perfect picture" idea of what it was suppose to look like, then she falls apart even more. A common scene at my house would be something like, "Could you please draw a tail on my animal?" We do so, and then she yells in betrayal "NO! NOT like THAT!" and then the crying begins again.
Duckie loves her blankie as much as Linus in Peanuts

The phrase Duckie says often during the day is "Mom, I have to tell you something" She prefaces almost every comment with that statement. But she often gets talked over, so now she cries if it is not quiet and calm when she is trying to talk to me, because she just feels run over and pushed aside. It's hard growing up with 5 kids to NOT feel like that, no matter what spot you are in the birth order.
Duckie gets to be Luigi for her 5th birthday party

The older two kids get lots of attention during homeschool while we do projects and assignments. Jewel and Angel get lots of attention throughout the day as they are the youngest and most dependent with continual demanding needs. Duckie just kind of gets lost in the shuffle between these two worlds. Not big enough for the older set, but not young enough to be with the babies. Caught in the middle she reaches for what the older two are doing, but then is crushed when she falls short. Then she gets impatient with being categorized with the younger crew. It's a hard thing to take. She often does enjoy being "missed," though. She usually disapears quietly into the bathroom to make potions with various bathroom ingredients. She's very good at just "hanging out" with the older kids....literally (see in your mind's eye two older kids quietly reading books while she plays like a monkey hanging from the bunkbed) She wants to be with them ALL the time, but she often can't do what they do, so she'll make up her own thing.

Yay it's a squid! A squishy squid, what I always wanted for my birthday!

She has several gifts at which she excels, but it's hard to get her to appreciate them, because she thinks its no big deal. She is a WHIZ when it comes to scissors. She can cut out anything well, no matter how small! She draws little figures, colors them, and then cuts them out to play with them all over the house. She is also the most amazing natural gymnast. I think if she were the only child of wealthy parents, she could be an olympic gymnast!

See Duckie in the blue dress catapulting of the edge of the stage for the grande finale

Maybe it's more her perfectionism than the third child syndrome that causes so much tears at our house. Everything has to be "perfect" the way she wants it or you get lots and lots of crying. Whether it's her clothes that don't fit right, or her sandwich cut the wrong way, or her cup not matching her plate, we see lots of tears over little things. Either she's incredibly perfectionistic, or the emotional trauma of being a middle child is getting to her. (either way I'm hoping she grows out of it) The way I've been dealing with the increase in meltdowns is this: On the days that she has uncontrollable fits of crying and screaming when things don't go her way, she has to take a nap, end of story. Her verbal coping skills have improved tremendously! So we are definitely seeing some improvement!

Duckie likes to wear her goggles just for fun.

She is filled with all kinds of fears and worries. She is always worried about being left behind. She thinks I'm leaving her all time, even when I assure her I'm taking care of something else and will be right back for her. Everyone is always moving fast while she is slowly making sure that the seams on her socks don't touch her toes! (everything MUST be perfect) And then we're all in the car, and she's still getting on her shoes crying "Don't leave without me!" *so sad!*

Duckie's favorite hair-do a "duckie dinosaur hair crest"

But then there is the other side of the picture! She gets to do fun things with the older kids, like go on school field trips and stay up to watch movies. And then she gets to have MUCH less chores than the older two. And sure, sometimes Mom makes her take a nap with the 3 year old, but then she also gets to play and watch movies with the babies while the older kids are working. Depending on her mood, she can play her cards to be treated like a "big kid" or a "little kid" depending on which view helps her achieve her current goals more. She's a master manipulater of the system!

So it all evens out, right?

I was very very glad to be a middle child growing up. And even more glad that I got to share the middle space with my sister, Mary. It was a comfortable place to be, most of the time. And it was nice that as each kid "flew the nest", we all got the chance to play the role of oldest child. That was a valuable experience for me!

Time has flown so fast, look how little she used to be!

But for right now, I know I need to make a real effort to spend more quality time with Duckie. I need to put other things on hold and do what She wants to do, and help her feel more validated in everything she does and says. Having child #5 has stretched me and stretched me past what I thought I could bear. There is more going on than I can personally handle. I'm a bit of a control-freak, and it unnerves me that there are gaping holes in my household that I just can't tend to. I worry all the time that sweet sensitive Duckie is falling through those holes. I hope I won't ever let that happen!

Duckie at our family reunion just after she had crashed another girl's birthday party, eating 2 pieces of their pizza wihout asking. She thought their party was our reunion.

Jewel the Jumper

Jewel LOVES to jump. She doesn't just jump up and down, though. She runs with her feet and swings herself back and forth.

She loves the jumper more than any of our other babies. She likes it better than her high chair or excer-saucer. The only thing she likes better is to be held!

She likes it best when music is playing, or the kids are running around and being noisy, because then she feels like she fits in. It's so much fun to watch!

Wacky-Man to the Rescue

What will they think of next? Kids!

I had to keep from laughing hysterically at my kids' new game. This is the kind of game that makes little sisters love their older brother forever and ever and ever, no matter how much teasing and bothering they occasionally suffer from him.

It's simple, really. The girls pick an object and make it "wacky" and they call "Wacky-man! There's something wacky in here!" Then Einstein comes in the room and has to figure out what object they've messed with. Then with much drama and noise he magically transforms the object back to normal. What's so funny about it is how he's packed with all these wacky instruments and tools. Flashlights, whirring noisy light-up baby toys, a tape recorder, a microphone. It's a whole show. Einstein loves to entertain his sisters when it means he's in the limelight. The girls all laugh in delight and demand more. And of course, Mom, A.K.A. "THE PARTY POOPER" who is trying to put kids to bed has to end the game and kick the Big Boy out so the girls can get ready for bed. A sneaky voice in my ear whispers that I should have snuck to the other end of the house and read a good book while Einstein wore the sisters out with uncontrollable laughter, and forget those restricitve bedtime curfews! Darn, I should have done it.....well, next time!

It makes me remember when my sister and I were little (Mary must have been 6 or 7, while I was only 4 or 5) and my older brother, David, used to put on the "baby bean show" for us and make our doll come to life and have comic adventures on our bed's headboard (think The Three Stooges slapstick comedy). We laughed until we couldn't breathe for the pain in our stomache muscles. My Mom made David stop the shows (to our grave disappointment) because she was tired of me wetting my pants from laughing so hard! (true story!) We never forgot it, though, and loved him because he made us laugh.

Big brothers are the best!