A little of this, a little of that

Baseball and softball season went off without a hitch.  This year was the first year that we didn't have overlapping practices and games.  It was really nice even though it meant some weeks we were all the ball field four nights in a row. 

Doodle Bug primarily played catcher and outfielder.  She was one of the best batters on the team - frequently being one of the only players to hit off of the other team's pitcher.  All of her playing skills improved and I'm hoping to work with her between now and next season to keep some of them a bit sharp.

Little Man is a GREAT second and third baseman as well as outfielder.  Near the end of his season, while playing outfield, he had some amazing catches and throws.  Parents on the other team often commented "Wow, what a throw."  Makes my mama heart proud.  I'm hoping to keep his skills sharp during off season as well.  We'll see how that goes.

School is winding down for the kids. They've actually finished my subjects (writing, math, and science) and only have the subjects Ryan teaches left.  Little Man will finish his work this week while the girls will finish their work next week.

Lulu absolutely LOVES playing teacher with Buddy Boy.  Whenever he has a craft, worksheet, or lesson she just LOVES to help him with it.  She says she wants to be a teacher and I think she'd make a wonderful one. She has the patience and gentleness to work with little ones.

While we're on the subject of future careers, Doodle Bug wants to be a fashion designer.  Ryan got the girls some fashion books that come with clothing templates to use as a reward during afternoon school.  They LOVE it.  They both come up with fabulous designs and great color schemes.  Doodle has even sewn some Barbie clothes for her dolls and they're not too bad!  I told her we need more designers to make tasteful clothing for girls.  I'm having a hard time finding tasteful clothing for her.  She turns 11 soon but is wearing juniors sized clothing, a lot of which is inappropriate, so it's getting harder and harder to find clothes for her.

Makes me wish I was better at sewing so I could make some cute clothes for her, but I'm not.  God has gifted me with other hobbies instead like gardening and bread baking.

Our garden is doing wonderfully.  Many of our tomato plants are taller than I am - I have to keep cutting off the top stems in hopes of deterring further vertical growth. So far it's working.  I started spraying aspirin water on the plants (one 325mg of aspirin to 4 cups of water) to combat powdery mildew on the tomatoes and it worked!  It's actually making the garden thrive - I never would have guessed it.  The cucumbers and the sugar snap peas are not too fond of it, so I'm trying not to spray these plants. 

Over 4th of July weekend I hope to pull up our potatoes and carrots and to harvest some cucumbers, sugar snaps, and lima beans. So exciting!

I've also taken up bread baking again (ok, well I've only done it once - this weekend.. but I hope to make it a regular occurrence again).  I have some sour dough starter from my aunt and grandmother and have pulled out my old sour dough recipes.  Three years ago I made sour dough every single week.  It was wonderful to have fresh homemade bread in the house and to be able to gift the bread to the neighbors.  I even started making cinnamon rolls, pretzels, pizza crust, cookies, and cakes.  I never realized I could do so much with sourdough!   So now I'm starting it up again and hoping to make one additional recipe (along with the fabulously soft and yeasty bread) each week.  This past week was pretzels.  Next week I'm going to try cinnamon rolls (which freeze amazingly well). 

It feels so wonderfully domestic to tend a garden and make homemade bread and I am thoroughly enjoying it.  I never thought I would say something like this when I was 13 or 14.. but honestly, what do 13 or 14 years old know anyway?  (I can see myself saying this same thing when I'm 40 or 45 - "What do 30 year olds know anyway?")  Anyways, I'm thoroughly enjoying life and hope that you are as well.

God bless.
-Mary

Ides of March

I cannot believe it's been almost four months since my last post - yowzers!

As always, things have been quite busy around our household.

The kids enjoyed a nice Spring Break and had plenty of time to play, ride bikes, read, and get into trouble. 

We went to the Jacksonville Zoo last Friday. We hadn't been there in 3 years, so it was really good to be back.  The kids were able to touch sting rays, feed a giraffe, watch the penguins, and said "This was the best field trip ever!"  Unfortunately, Buddy Boy was sick (fever, very tired, snotty nose) so we cut our visit short.  But, we decided to get the annual family pass, so we can go again as many times as we want to until next March - woohoo!  Next time I think mom's going to join us, so that'll be great.

On Saturday, we decided to take the kids to Orlando - who doesn't like Orlando?  We enjoyed a nice suite at the Nickelodeon resort. The kids LOVED the resort.  Pictures of cartoon characters were everywhere, and the resort was very kid-centered.  We watched two episodes of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at the pool (they called it a Dive-in movie - was pretty cool).  Before leaving on Sunday, we played putt putt golf at the hotel.  Buddy Boy (who was feeling MUCH better) had the best shot on each hole.  My little athlete.

Spring season also means baseball season.  Little Man has graduated from t-ball and is now playing baseball. His coach is great and has been working with him to throw the ball better.  He loves it!

Doodlebug is playing softball again and also has a good coach. She's playing with a group of girls that have been together for years, so they're pretty tight knit.  Her easygoing personality allows her to fit right in. She's having a great time and has kept a lot of her skill from the past four years.  It's going to be a great season.

We started our spring garden right after Valentine's day and already see radishes, carrots, and lettuce sprouting.  We've actually eaten some of the lettuce and it's quite tasty!  We can also see the potatoes starting to bud - exciting! 

I've started some pineapple tomatoes, roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and green peppers in seed trays and they're starting to sprout after 2 weeks of cold temperatures.  I plan to plant some eggplant, more tomatoes, and some fruit this weekend into another seed tray. 

We also have a golden jubilee and blueberries to plant - just waiting for this final cold snap to finish.

I'm hoping this year's garden will be better than last years for multiple reasons.  Number one - I have a little bit better idea of what to do to keep the plants healthy and happy.  Number two - we started last year's garden in the middle of June - we've gotten a four month head start.  Number three - we got the kids their very own 2x2 square foot garden and got another 4x4 garden, so we'll have 150% more space.  Number four - Ryan got me some amazing gardening tools for Christmas that have already made gardening easier.

I promise to take pictures of the garden this year and to actually post them. (We bought a new DSL camera and it takes beautiful pictures - I hope to post some of the kids soon.)

Hope and pray everyone is doing well.

'Tis the season

I've learned a few things this Christmas season that I want to share, mostly, so I can look back next year and read them again and say "Oh, yeah! I forgot about that." 

1. Always make extra cookie dough.  You can put it in the freezer for up to three months, and the cookies you bake from this frozen dough are simply delicious.

2. Make sure little hands and little helpers are always near when you're baking. It makes the baking so much more fun and your items turn out tasting and looking even better than if you'd done it all yourself.

3. Dish Network has an awesome radio station called something like Big Band Christmas Music from the '40s. Always have this playing when doing anything Christmassy - baking cookies, wrapping presents, talking about the Christmas story, etc.

4. Don't be surprised when your husband (or wife) in July tells you "Honey, I've gotten all of the Christmas presents. We're all set and ready to go"  only to find out he (or she) is still purchasing items today, 8 days until Christmas.

5. Take your children to the Dollar Tree and allow them to buy presents for each other. You'll be amazed and touched at the thought each child puts into the gift, and it won't break your already stretched pocket book.

6. Adopt a needy child, or two, or a family, and buy presents for him/her/them as a family. Wrap them as a family and pray for them as a family.

7. Read lots of different Christmas stories.  This year, we've been reading my mom's Norman Rockwell's Christmas Story book.  It's full of great poems, songs, and Christmas tidbits from years ago, and is all centered on the real reason for the season - Jesus.

8. Most importantly - remember what we're celebrating and why.  We're celebrating Jesus' birth, which ultimately leads to His resurrection and the promise that whoever believes in Him will have everlasting life.  That's real Love, Joy, Hope, and Peace.

Merry Christmas.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I can't stand it any longer.. I've been ready to decorate the house Christmas since November 1st.  So what did my loving, handsome, and sexy strong husband do last week?  He went through the garage and our 20+ Christmas boxes to find the decorations my mom and I both want to put up in the house.

Then he proceeded to actually put them up!!

Yes, it's Christmas time.. at least in my house it is.

Then this weekend, we went to Target, Michael's, and Walmart and picked up a few other beautiful decorations.

Oh how I love decorating for Christmas.

I love it almost as much as I love baking.

Which is of course what I spent most of the weekend doing... making chocolate chip cookies, extra chocolate chip cookie dough to put in the freezer, peanut butter cookie dough for the freezer, a butter pound cake with a powdered sugar glaze, peppermint twist cupcakes, peppermint sandwich cookies.

Yes, we'll be eating well in my household this season.

One day, once I find my camera chords, I'll actually post some pictures of the decorations and the yummy treats we're cooking.. I promise.

What Joy

Just wanted to write a little post about one of the many joys of motherhood.

As many of you may know, Saturday's are Science days in our household. We devote half of our day to learning, investigating, and experimenting in all things science. Lately, our units have had so much cool stuff they've bled over into Sunday as well - so we have two wonderful days of science.

One of the many joys I have is hearing my kids say "This is my favorite science unit so far!" or "This is so much fun!" or "Wow, cool!"  I love being able to pass down the love of learning, the love of experimenting, the love of exploring.  It's something I hope my children never lose and something I am thankful that I have yet to lose myself.

Another one of my many joys is to watch Buddy Boy, who just turned 4, dig in and soak up all things science (or math, or writing, or whatever subject we're into at the moment). He may not fully grasp what we're talking about, he may not have as many worksheets to fill in, he may need a little (or a lot) more help with crafting... but to see him so excited to learn, so eager to explore, just makes my heart burst at the seems.

I've been forunate enough that I've been able to experience that excitement in each of my precious children.  Yes, over the years some of their excitement has waxed and waned - especially as we enter long division, or multiplying fractions - something that requires a little more effort - but they still have that "Oh, this is cool!" attitude with most things.

I know I would still see this attitude had we put our children in public or private school, but being able to experience it all first hand, is just something I cannot even put into words.  It's something so precoius and so tender, I'll keep it in my heart forever, like a secret meant for only us...

Those of you struggling in your schooling, parenting, crafting, whatever... perservere, God has these precious little nuggets just waiting for you around the bend.  Search for them, grab them, and never let them go.

366 days

A lot has happened in just one year... one teeny, tiny, year. 366 days (366 instead of 365 thanks to Lulu's birthday, I mean Leap Day).

Since last October, I have...
Lost one of the main men in my life, my father.  The first one, alongside my mother, to love me unconditionally, the hold me, the mold me.

Graduated from college, with my AA.  Took me 10 years and 50 weeks to do it.  Throughout my journey I started a full-time job, got married, had four children, and moved twice.

Celebrated Lulu's birthday at Disney World (in the Presidential sweet.. I mean suite).

Moved back in with mom and the kitties.

Celebrated my 10th wedding anniversary.

Adopted a dog. Lovable, hugable, adorable beagle/cocker spaniel mix.

Celebrated Doodle Bug's 10th birthday.

Gone through a major transition at work that has resulted in a change in employment.

Celebrated Buddy Boy's birthday.

Served on a jury (very interesting!!!).

Almost broken my ankle... fortunate enough to wear a walking boot for the last six weeks.

Celebrated Little Man's birthday.

and many, many more.

I'm not usually a big proponent of change, but God, like usual, is molding me, shaping me, changing me to become more flexible, more pliable, more bendable.  It's not necessarily an enjoyable process, in fact it's quite painful!  But in the end, He's able to mold me more into the woman He wants me to be.

Looking back, if I were in charge, I'd definitely have chosen some different events to occur this past year.  But His ways are not my own, and I lean and trust that His ways are better than mine. SO much better than mine.  Had I been in charge and chosen different events, I'm sure I would've mucked up at least 99% of said events.   Since He's been in charge, he hasn't mucked up one - not even one.

So, it's with excitement, hope, and yes - a little trepidation, I look forward to the next 365 days and what God has in store for me. I hope you're looking forward to it as well.

Snickers and Science

Anytime you can incorporate food into your science  unit, it's a win - trust me on this.

After a busy weekend and a rather long science unit spread over a two day period, the kids were getting a little antsy when we finished our rock unit last Sunday afternoon. They already learned about sedimentary rocks and made delicious sedimentary bars (aka 7-layer bars... SOOO good).  Next they learned about igneous rocks and made homemade popscicles (and I think we put in too much sugar... if that's even possible).  All they had left was to wrap up their unit with metamorphic rocks.

They watched some cute videos online and a Bill Nye episode (I LOVE him!) all about rocks.  So, it wasn't all baking, journaling, and worksheets.  But still, they were getting a little burned out.

But, I saved the best for last....I whipped out the snickers bars... 

Here, I'll explain why: Metamorphic rocks are sedimentary rocks (layered rocks) that have changed composition due to increase heat and pressure applied to them over thousands of years.. Snickers have clear definitive layers... chocolate (mmm), nougat (drool), caramel (drool some more), peanuts (grab a napkin, the keyboard is getting wet), and more chocolate... They were our sedimentary rocks.  But, I wouldn't let the kids eat them (I'm mean like that).

I made the kids draw the snickers, feel the snickers, and even smell the snickers (I told you I'm mean).  But still - they couldn't eat them.. oh boy were they whining!! 

Little Man finished his journaling first, so I brought him to the front of the room.  I asked him to tell me what sedimentary rocks were, then what metamorphic rocks were.  I asked him how we could change the snickers (sedimentary rocks) into metamorphic rocks.  "Put them in the microwave," said he.

"Let's try something else."  I brought out two heavy books and some waxed paper.  I put waxed paper on one book, his beloved snickers ontop, another layer of waxed paper over the candy, and a heavy book ontop of it all.  Then I asked him to gently step on the book, and rock side to side and back and forth.  He was applying heat and pressure!!  I think he thought I was crazy - ruining a good candy bar and all.  But what he saw when we lifted those books and waxed paper off of the candy bar was awesome... a smooshy, gooey, flat candy bar.  His eyes lit up.  "That's so cool!!  Look!!"

He showed his sisters then looked at me with his big green eyes and said "Can I eat it now?"  "Yes son, go forth and enjoy."  He said it tasted even better this way. :)

See?  Anytime you can incorporate food and science, it's a win all the way around.

By the way, the idea above was not mine (sorry, I'm just not that creative.. I steal... I mean, borrow.. other bright ideas.)  Here's where I found this unit (and the other Earth Science stuff we're doing this month) : http://www.squidoo.com/earth-science-unit-on-rock-classification  Check out her site - you'll be very glad you did!