Aidan's Special Brand of Cute

Firstly:

Aidan and Toe are doing much better these days! Thanks for the good wishes to Aidan, he loved it when I read him your comments. I asked him if he wanted to say anything back. He says:

Thank-you for saying "That's cool!"

Nextly, I would like to feature Aidan in this post because I have some quotes and pictures that need sharing. For our family photo shoot, he was a total ham! Each of our kids has a little something special and unique from the other kids. And they contrast each other perfectly, highlighting each other's qualities. I'll sprinkle them about...

Silly face...

Hair tuft in the back...

Lovin' this cheese!

Isn't it GREAT?

Funky moon-face smile to finish it off

Aidan does say some funny things and sometimes it's so random, I can't figure out what he's really thinking about. For instance, one night at dinner our family was discussing Aidan's penchant for picking the candy hearts off other people's cookies. As we talked about it, Shane cleverly said " Aidan steals little girls' hearts!" Aidan, not to be outdone in the wit department, says "I steal little girls AND little boys hearts!". Shane and I crack up, Lucas and Julia laugh along with us. To see how far this would go, I asked Aidan what he did with their hearts. He looks at me for half a second and I can see him thinking. Then he says " I chomp them with my teeth, eat them and swallow them with water!"

A great example of the contrast between my two boys.

Another day, after some parental correction, he told me something very interesting through his tears.

"Mom, I know this is a long sentence, but I need you. (Touches the corner of his eyes underneath.) The sentence is from here to here. From the corner of this eye to the corner of this eye."

?? I couldn't make heads or tails of it, so I focused on the "I need you" part and rocked him while he chatted. =)

Papa and Mama with the little man

"I'm just excited!"

This phrase has become something of a household word in our little world. It is strange, and would be extremely inappropriate except that Aidan means something different from what an adult would understand. Months ago, I noticed a typical "need to go potty" stance and asked Aidan if he needed to go. His reply? "I'm just excited, Mom." So every time the hand goes down in the "need to go" position, I can be almost certain that my queries will be met with "I don't have to go potty, I'm excited!" I began to insist that he try anyway, and wasn't all that comforted to discover that he'd go every time. On one occasion he became exasperated and insisted "Mo-om! This is what people do when they are excited!" and demonstrated the hand grab. We don't make a big deal about it other than to tell him to try anyway, but it's one of those things that can make social occasions a bit strained as people wonder WHAT our kid is talking about!

But we think he's pretty wonderful and creative. He's at that age where he likes to use big words and every once in a while he gets them right! It's sad to see the baby years slipping away, but happily ALL my children still want lap time with me!=)

My Baby Got a Boo Boo

This weekend had a couple interesting developments. The less shocking and amazing one is that Shane got another car. Yeah, I know, it's like "I already assumed that, Melita, why tell us?" And normally I'd probably never think to mention such a commonplace occurrence except that this time it was the catalyst for rock hunting. I think his car is an MR-2, by the way. I am sure, however, that it is black.

We drove up north on Saturday and it was a gorgeous drive. We are in love with our new home and our enjoyment of the scenery is... obscene. =) We stopped by the river, our only source of natural water play, and the kids had a blast.

They found a few sticks.

They found a few rocks.

They got their feet wet.

They threw leaves in the gusty wind.

Mom loved the french braid enough to lay down on a boat ramp.

Julia got kisses from her Papa.

Aidan was my guide and protector for a small hike. He wanted me to get a picture of his great protecting skills.

And the kids brought home a few souvenirs from our trip.

As we unloaded the car, Aidan carried his big, lovely rock up the front walk. But then he dropped it on his big toe nail. Popped the darn thing clean off his foot! Oh, except for the tiny strip of skin hanging on one side. I, who don't rush to children's aid very quickly, rushed to his side in a fraction of a second. I knew exactly what had happened and hollered for Shane, who heard my special tone of voice and knew it was serious. We took our baby inside and I sterilized some scissors and cut off the skin, the entire toe nail now sitting beside my sink.

It was completely intact and off of his sweet toe! Aidan was pretty much crazy/nuts with pain, and he kept asking/crying "Why are you and Papa doing this to me???" Over and over. Sniff.

It did cross my mind to take a picture of this, and I shoved it out like filthy intruder it was. But as you can see, I did take pictures after the fact. =)

Shane did a Walgreens run and got him a finger splint that we modified for his big toe. We used gauze to wrap his toe and then slid the splint over it and taped it in place. Aidan did a lot of screaming for that stunt. But he slept good all night, and the next morning was 100% better for the pain.

But.

The nail-less toe had bled and dried on the gauze. Yeah. So, yeah. Felt kinda dumb, and cruel for causing our poor baby more stress. I soaked it off with bactiene-type spray, but it still hurt him like crazy. I got some proper non-adhesive bandages that work like a charm, and now I can change his bandage without any stress to him. Whew!

During the first few hours of injury, Lucas and Julia spent a little time cheering Aidan up. They drew a picture of a yellow baby in pink undies(which to me looked like a thong, but whatever), and as soon as Aidan saw it, he laughed. Then he told me how it really cheered him up to look at the picture and said "See?" while giving a posed, tight-lipped smile. It was cute! =)

So that is a long rundown of our weekend adventures. Aidan is doing much better, thank goodness!

Ahhh... Butcher Block!

We are now the proud and happy owners of a butcher block covered island! Now we get to experience what it will be like to maintain it. =)

Shane did all the work, of course. Ripped out the gross tile that was falling apart. He had to constantly watch Lucas who was determined to get some flying tile in his eyes.

Anyway, he got it unscrewed from the top and we hauled it out to the "junkyard" in front of our house. So attractive!

Our island had an overhang towards the living room, somewhat like a bar, only pretty low. We don't use it, and it's a waste of space for us. So instead, we bought two long cabinets and installed them under the overhang. They will be for garbage and recycling. Each has a pull-out drawer and should be a pretty slick set-up. We really like the idea of having both hidden behind a cabinet door!

So it's in and I've already used it to prepare more of the PW's quesadilla's! It seems a little dried out, so I'm heading over to get some food safe mineral oil and give it a good rub down. If we don't like how it looks after I've used it as a cutting board, we'll lightly sand and then seal it. But everything I read says it should work great, so I'm going to give it a try.

One more thing: in the space you see above between the two cabinets, we are going to line it with walnut and put in some shelves for decoration. =) The butcher block is walnut, too. When that happens, I'll post more pictures. Til then, just know I'm enjoying my new countertop!

Valentine Fun

Yes, I know Valentine's Day is over. And that's great if you are already looking forward to St. Patrick's Day.

However, after all the long labors of "Love" and the work that it represents, I'm interested in leaving things up for awhile and getting some mileage out of them!

So here's some pictures of our cookie decorating!

Julia's favorite cookie

Everyone has a few creative juices...

After the cookies were done, we moved on to house decorating. We copied a project Lucas had done two years ago and covered a piece of paperboard in foil to make a candy kiss. Each kiss does have a paper tag with a message, it's just blown out in the photo. You can see them in pics farther down.

We made little heart people with curly arms and legs and of course, decorated hearts.

Very festive! A little curl or two of ribbon on the chairs and the ambiance was set!

This year, we decided to stay home and have a family dinner by candlelight.

The kids were so excited, and couldn't wait to "make it dark".

I decided to try the pioneer woman's quesadilla's and it's going to go down in history as a family fave! We had some fruit salad(local organic farm) and lots of gingerbread cookies.

Simple, but hit the spot. We were supposed to have sparkling berry juice, but I forgot to get it out of the fridge. Tsk!

One of my Valentine projects came to me on the morning of Vday: a quick little table runner! I thought I'd roughly quilt on a few hearts and zip up the sides and have it on the table for our supper.

Turns out, it just stressed me out and I spent my time rushing, being frustrated, harping on my kids and never actually finishing it that day.Little reminder to self, no projects the DAY OF! If it isn't done by the day before, it stays undone! So I finished it the day after Vday, and we are enjoying it now. And it is now ready in plenty of time for next Vday.

So that is what we did, and we had fun doing it! I can't believe how much I like to stay home in my own house. I get out more than I used to... but I sure love to be a homebody! And this Valentine's Day hit the spot for us all. =)

The Cookbook Scoop

When my sister, Susan, went into the Marines, we inherited a few things.

One of them was her cookbook "How to Cook Everything" by Mark Bittman. I had to reluctantly give it back to her once she got married, but my sweet husband bought it for me for my birthday. My mother also gave me his international cookbook and it's wonderful, too. These cookbooks are interesting. For one thing, they're huge. Take a gander.

And for another, they have not ONE SIGLE SOLITARY picture of food in them. There are diagrams and illustrations drawn in black ink, but those are for things like carving a turkey, etc. The text is black on white and crammed together. But it is a cookbook to sink your soul into, let alone your teeth.

Bittman makes the case for homemade chicken broth, or veggie broth and now I'm a believer. It's so EASY, it's so HEALTHY! His point is to cook whatever it is in the best possible way, but it turns out that means fresh, whole foods and simple combinations. Nothing is overdone or extra fancy, but he does admonish the use of the proper ingredients, not milk when cream is called for! Anyway, I'm in love and it feels so goooood!

One of my old favorites is a cookbook that my Grandma Paddon gave us for a wedding present. She gave us THREE cookbooks, actually, all from Taste of Home. And I'm sure many of you are familiar with the magazines and cookbooks they have. My favorite is the Taste of Home Guide to Country Cooking. I discovered that you can actually try a recipe for the first time and it WILL turn out right! (You do have to follow the recipe, of course.) Grandma also gave us the cookbook collection for our year, 2001:

and another cookbook that is wire-bound and split into three sections; top, middle, bottom:

The top section is main dishes, middle is sides and last section is DESERT! Anyway, you can open the cookbook to all three recipes of your choice and they are printed all on one page. Easy Peasy.

And Taste of Home is VERY VERY good about the most gorgeous photos. You can always whet your appetite by flipping through a cookbook of theirs.

Another cookbook I don't use super often, but often enough to get it's own small paragraph is Nourishing Traditions.

This is THE super healthy cookbook. It is filled with label advice educating you on those mysterious ingredients on most things you buy at the store. They have recipes for raw meat eaters, vegetarians, fermentation for healthier digestion, you name it! I've barely scratched the surface. But there's plenty of things to fall in love with, even if you don't like your meat walking about the kitchen. Salad dressings and bavarian cream are two instant winners in my experience.

The rest of the recipes I love are old fav's handed down from my side or Shane's side of the family, or a random gem I found in a cookbook that I mostly don't use, or a recipe that I stole from someone when I died (and went to heaven) after eating it. Two come to mind right away; Darla's Pumpkin Desert and Pecan Chicken Salad. Can't resist 'em!

So there's a few cookbook introductions! Wish I could share my own recipe inventions, but I don't have any. I have such wonderful luck browsing through the work of others that...well, what's the point?! I'll just share my own borrowed collection giving credit where it is so amply due.

Cracked Eggs

More chicken news and information!

Greetings from Big Mama on the right, and "the other one".

Well, we have had some interesting weather last week and now this week, too. Last week we saw plenty of snow and wind and the schools closed for three days! We saw some double digit negative numbers at night, some have reported minus 12 degrees! About a month ago, I finally decided that I'd put a light in the chicken coop. I felt sorry for them and worried that I'd come out some morning to find them half alive. I am not interested in reviving or killing off a half-dead chicken, so I went for the heat bulb. I was wanting a black heat bulb, the kind used in reptile habitats, but Wal-Mart was out and I wasn't driving to town to search for one. Having healthy, natural birds means I hesitate to give them artificial light. But.... cold times call for a compromise in standards. I guess.

And so the girls have light all the time, 24 hours a day. Which might be why their egg production is so great durning this freezing weather! Just to illustrate how cold it was, I went to collect eggs one day and found the rare and beautiful green egg... only to discover that it had frozen and cracked. So I had to toss it in the non-chicken compost pile. =(

Now we collect the eggs twice a day, and even then, I think a few eggs might have become a little frosted inside. But no matter, if the shell is intact, a little frozen inside won't bother us.

Here you can see the girls finally out enjoying a little bit of sunshine after being "cooped up" for two days. =)

At my monthly shopping trip to Costco, I was tickled to notice that I don't need to buy eight 18 packs of eggs, only three. =) So I looked up at the price and discovered I was "saving" an entire $10.55 per month. Eggs are about the cheapest protein, guess we should be raising our own meat chickens and beef instead. (never!)

I'd like to report that my wild girl (Marian named her CJ, but none of their names have stuck) once again "flew" over the gate.

This is CJ, also known as "wild girl":

So now her flight feathers are clipped on both sides. Their fence isn't high enough for a real chicken coop, but when you are trying to keep a low profile, it's hard to convince the hubby to go for the tall fence. My Australorps are too fat to fly, but I guess the Americauna is lean and mean. She's still laying brown eggs, the twit! Doesn't she know she was purchased for variety, both with her looks and her eggs??? I'm hoping it's just a rebellious teen stage she's going through. ;)

And here's a closer picture of the gate Shane made for me with his new welder. He was excited to have a project of MINE to practice on, rather than ruining some exhaust pipes or some other welding project he's wanting to do for himself. And I'm very, VERY happy to be his practice!

Supposed to be -3 degrees tonight. It feels nice to have plenty of groceries, a warm pellet stove and nowhere to go!

Hope you are keeping cozy!

Time and School Happeneth to Us All

You would think that a mother who is at home with her kids almost ALL of the time would not feel worried about spending enough time with her kids.

NOT SO!

You would think that actually schooling your children would count as time spent together.

NOT SO!

You would think that when you work on a school subject or activity with someone, that eye contact would be a no-brainer.

NOT SO!

No, this WonderMom realizes as she kisses little boy neck and cheek goodnight, that she's neglected someone. And too often, it's more than one kid that has been ignored.

The truth around here is that Lucas gets the most attention. By his nature, he demands large amounts of time and is CONSTANTLY in your face about it. He talks constantly, asks questions, persists for answers, implores you to LOOK (thus getting the eye-contact) and in general lives his life in constant connection to people(usually Mom). He's naughty for attention and helps out with chores for attention. For example, today he shoveled the snow off the sidewalk. This was quite the feat, since he had to bash the shovel on the ground to knock the load of snow off EVERY SINGLE TIME. A mom can't ignore things like that.

But Julia and Aidan are less demanding. Julia is just quieter. She needs someone to notice her, and anticipate her needs. She doesn't ask for attention, she just gets mean. (Which makes me look ahead and realize I need to do some training or she'll be in poor form for a spouse or companion.) Aidan is not very needy and can spend hours on little projects, games or activities with the most he needs being a snack. When he does need some snuggle time, he comes and gets it. But because he plays so well by himself or with his siblings, I only interact with him for the few structured school activities or when it's time for him to do a chore. We have a scheduled storytime each day, and that is good. But it's still not ALL that is needed for interaction.

And this brings me to another, similar issue. How in the WORLD do I homeschool three little kids and give them each the time they need? Julia does go to her school three mornings a week, and I'm glad she does so she can get some learning time. But I school her the other two mornings and even when she is gone, I have trouble juggling Lucas and Aidan. The kids are too little to be sent off to do work by themselves. Lucas has some copywork he can complete on his own, as well as some spelling activities. But most other stuff we do together, combining the explanation and instruction with the actual activity itself. And he will learn to do more things on his own, but that isn't a reasonable expectation for a first grader to homeschool himself. Aidan is really taking off, and is passing Julia up in the Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading, by Wise/Bauer, of the Well-Trained Mind fame. But it would be ridiculous to expect him to practice words with short vowel sounds on his own. Clearly not an option.

So I have to figure out what things each kid can do on their own and keep a tight eye on a three-point rotation schedule!! And I haven't had success with that, yet. Not even with a two-point rotation! I'm wondering how a timer might help me out. It might keep me on task, so I don't abandon someone too long. And it might help keep them on task, too, knowing that when the timer rings, they can do something less structured, like playing, coloring, etc. I'm sure it's worth a shot.

Because right now, I find that I'm teaching a full day to Lucas, then a pre-school day to Aidan and two days a week it's a Kindergarten day for Julia! And the overlap is VERY minimal!

Well, I feel better just articulating the issues. I'm excited to homeschool and I enjoy teaching them. I just want to do an exceptional job. They deserve it and I shouldn't waste their time at home if I can't do their education justice.