Field Trips

soccer girl
kisses
whatchu lookin' at?
i can't hear you!
Brenna's pencil roll

We got invited to participate in some field trips this morning. We went to Krispy Kreme to see how Donuts were made, and then to the fire station for a little tour.
My kids have never been to K.K. before, so they were a bit fascinated there was a whole store just for donuts! Our tour guide was a little out of touch for kids this age, but he was sweet and the kids liked the hats and manhandling the dough.
The firestation was very cool. One of the firemen put on his full suit and the breathing mask. Some of the kids were scared of him. With all their gear and suit and tank they carry about an extra 100 lbs. The kids got to get in the fire engine and got a plastic fire hat. Very cool. Aisling decided to wear her dalmation coat so she could be the firehouse dog.
We also got invited to go to the paramedic station his afternoon, but I don't think we'll go.
Thanks for those of you who put this together for the rest of us.
Lachlan is climbing all the way up the stairs. There are 16 of them and even a slight curve. He is obssesses by it. I can't put a gate in front of it, and there are many sharp edges and a tile floor below, so I'm constantly pulling him off and trying to distract him. I left my exersaucer and porta crib at my grams' house this week. We are trying to clean it out (her house), so I have no way to contain him. I'm considering putting a leash on him. :) I usually just taech my kids how to go downthe stairs properly, but he is still too small to reach the stairs with his knees and arms, He shouldn't be climbing stairs so young!
I think I broke or at least badly injured my toe yesterday. It is still really painful, hurts constantly and hard to walk. It is only a little swollen and it isn't majorly bruised, so it doesn't seem like it should be broken, but it sure does hurt. I guess I'm just getting old! I dropped a full glass bottle of balsamic vinegar right on the knuckle and it broke on my toe. Ouch! My garage smells great now.
We got our school room set up in the bonus room upstairs and we are excited not to be stuck making messes on the dining room table.
Abram found the USB cable so when I get time this weekend I'll post some pics. He's gone bow-hunting for the weekend. Hooray for him. Hope he has a great time.

two and thirty

It is our king's two and thirty birthday. He didn't get a black-bird pie, but we had cheesecake and chocolate cake and a fun home-made pizza party with his family. His little sister's birthday is one day prior to his, so we usually have a double party for them. This was the first time everyone has come over here for their party. It seems like we usually meet at a local park.
Abram has been having fun this year designing and making knives and handles. He is really good at actually trying out things he finds interesting. He likes to read and learn about a subject and then do it. I come from a family of readers so I didn't realize it is unusual for men to read for recreation. He also reads to the kids most nights, which we all love. He used to be a really good snowboarder, and taught lessons at our local ski hill. He is going to take Aisling up this winter and try to teach her snowboarding. He also used to white water raft in the summers and also lead the trail rides on horseback. He loves to climb mountains and we've done two mountains together and will do more when the kids are older. He is going bow-hunting this week and is hoping to get an elk. He likes to do scavenging type activities; look for antlers, search for gold and gems, pick berries, search for arrowheads. He has a built- in map and compass in his head. He is amazing that way. He is strong and he is fast and he is interested in health and fitness and eating well and natural health. He would like to build a yurt or straw-bale home or some other type of self-sustaining building. He was into 'green' before it became the thing to do. :) He loves to shop, if he has a dollar, he's scheming about how he can get the most out of it. He's really good at backing up trailers, tying good knots and doing other manly things. If I was stranded on a desert island, I would be okay as long as Abram was there. He is very good at survival skills and being prepared. He is also very handy but he's also good at baking breads and cooking. He is a true patriot and wants us to retain all of our freedoms. He is very supportive of me and a wonderful, romantic husband and a hard worker. He is lots of fun for our kids too. We are so lucky to have him as the king of our kingdom! Happy Birthday, Abey-baby.

Lockey-Locke

Today Lachlan has reached his 7 month mark. I can't even put up any cute pictures of my fuzzy-headed li'l guy. He has officially figured out how to crawl correctly. He's been 'crawling' for a month now, but it was more like a scooch. He is also crawling up (and down) small stairs. He'll stand up to anything, not just coffeetables and chairs, but walls, doors etc. Which is scary cuz how will he get back down? He wants to eat people food, and we give him some when we can but he still doesn't have a single tooth. He seems voracious when we all start eating. He slept through the night last night, the first time since he was born. (or maybe I just managed to sleep through him crying?)He is a ittle sweetie pie, even if he isn't really a cuddle bug. He's too busy to stop and snuggle. He loves music too. He likes to beat the rhythm out. we're glad he's part of our gang.

Arachnids

this week we have been reading about arachnids. Did you know that daddylonglegs is not a spider? It is an arachnid, but it does not spin webs and it does not have two body parts (cephelothorax & abdomen) that other spiders have. There are over 7,000 species of daddylonglegs! Who took the time to count? :) Also, I did not know that was their official name. I thought it was a name kids called them. Like Roly Poly. Arachnids are quite interesting . The jumping spider is a really fun one. If you get the chance, check out some books about them.
Aisling has been gone this week on a trip with her grandma & grandpa. She would be happy as a clam if Abram & I keeled over dead so she could live with them permanently. (At least til she got older and came to her senses) She thinks life is All about Having Fun! When I tried to explain to her that life isn't all about having fun, she said, "well, having fun is the BEST part of life!" It has been much quieter and calmer here without her, but I do miss her. The other girls just werent' as excited about the projects like she always is. We made masks to have a Wild Rumpus (see Where The Wild Things Are) and they just did not get into it like she would.
Rowan came & got in bed with me sometime around 5 am I think. Then started gagging around 6. She dry heaved a bunch over the sink, but nothing came. I remembered she hadn't eaten much of her dinner. It sems that Brenna has done that a few times, where she got sick because she had an empty stomach. Have your kids ever done that? She ate a big bowl of cereal and has been fine ever since. That is one of the worst feelings, when you're sleeping soundly in your bed and a child next to you starts to throw up, you know the next minute you're going to be covered in you- know- what! You panic, scrambling to get them out of the bed, but you don't want them to throw up on the carpet, and still half asleep... you'll probably hit your head on the door, trip over the doll she dropped there when she crawled in bed with you, slip on the wet floor from your husband showering and not wiping his feet on the rug and end up laying in barf anyway. I should write one of those Laura Numeroff books, like If You give A Mouse A Cookie, only it would be a little bit different!
We are going to have an empty house after this weekend. No, not the one we live in, but our Boise house. So now we have two houses to clean up and get ready to put on the market. Obviously we'd rather sell this big expensive one first, but whatever. If either of them sells, it will just reduce our stress. We recently looked in on a house we had really liked a couple years ago, but at the time it was a brand new house and listed at $500,000. Well, it never sold and it is now listed at $369,000. that is exciting, but it is also discouraging. It is a really beautiful home with wonderful craftmanship, but it is still a lot of money, and what does that mean for us trying to sell our two homes? We can only wait and see.
Abram signed us up for a one-disc-at-a-time netflix membership which I'm still not very happy about. I feel like watching movies is kind of a waste of time when we already have too many things to do with our time. Anyway, this has enabled us to watch all sorts of movies that we probably would never have seen. None that I really feel like I am SO glad! I got to see that. Most of them were more like, I could've lived my life without having seen that. One we watched that we did enjoy was Lars and The Real Girl. Now, we are not the normal movie types. We like unique films that make you think, not the ones you sit back and laugh at the mindless, crude humor. So the disclaimer is that most people might not like this film. It has some very uncomfortable scenes.. very awkward I should say. I guess it is worse for guys to watch then girls. If you have seen it, tell me what you thought!
What is your favorite movie, and the one you thought was incredibly a waste of time?

Projects

Well, I still haven't found the cable to the camera so am unable to download any pictures. It is hard for me to feel like I have a proper post without any visual aid. Anyway, here are a few of the things I've been doing. (copying other clever, crafty people)
Made 4 of these cuties. I made a dog, a cat, a bunny and a monkey. They are so cuddly.
I made some of these magnets with my kids, my sister, and her kids. It is fun and easy!
I tried out this pattern with my friend Tara and got hooked. I made one with a cowboy/indian theme. I am ready to make a bunch more of those.
I made this pillowcase dress a while ago. It was a tiny bit more work than I was anticipating. So I only made one.
I found a wonderful cookbook at the library. It is the Barefoot Contessa. I usually check out a few cookbooks every time I go to the library, but I usually flip through them unimpressed and unmotivated. This one is chock full of motivating recipes and gorgeous pictures. It really has got me drooling and ready to get in the kitchen and make food from scratch. They even have a recipe for home made marshmallows I'm dying to try and a to-die-for-looking cheesecake.
I'll let you know how they turn out.

Schooling

I've had a few people ask me what we are doing for school. Here is a little summary of what we have been doing this week.
Brenna has been working on her letters. She's got A & B down and has been working on C & D. She did her numbers 1-10 already. We are working on her cutting skills. This week we are focusing on different kinds of feet. (paws, claws, talons, diggers, sticky feet etc)
Aisling has been working on reading. Yesterday we did the sh combo. She read Hop on Pop and Put Me in the Zoo with help. She knows her vowels and we are practicing the short and long sounds of each. She learned about the earth's core, mantle and crust. This week we are focusing on mammals. We will be taking a trip to the zoo tomorrow to look at mammals and different animals' feet.
Rowan can count pretty well. She is in the teens. We are focusing on colors and shapes which she's almost got down. She also gets to learn about mammals and feet and go to the zoo with us. :)
We are having lots of fun!

Losing My Touch

This weekend I made brownies to take to a function. But I didn't have 2 eggs like the recipe calls for on the box. So I tried that substitution of 2 TBS oil and 1 TBS water for 2 eggs. I guess it doesn't work for mixes. The water mixed in to the powder, but when I pulled the pan out after baking, the oil had separated and there was about 1 inch puddle of oil sitting on top of this gooey mess. So weird! I also made a huckleberry pie with the remaining huckleberries we picked. I used a fake crust (ok, not a fake one, but a frozen pre-made one) and made a crumb topping. It seemed underbaked. It was like huckleberry soup. Maybe we needed to let it cool first. It feels so strange to me to have my desserts not turn out. I'm not a pro, but I usually have good success with my sweets. I did make no bake cookies on Tuesday, and they turned out just fine. Maybe there is hope.
Does anyone else feel tied to the house because of nap schedules? Afternoons are out of the question, and mornings really should be off limits too. But when can a mother of a 2 yr old and a baby run errands and go to the park and do all the fun things mothers with young children are supposed to do? Wish I could afford a nanny to stay home with the sleeping one(s) sometimes.
Whch reminds me. What do you pay your babysitter? I've never gotten a sitter because I don't know what to pay one. (oh and the fact that we don't go out hardly ever)

Sleep Training

Last night was worse. Lachlan woke up around 12 like usual and cried and cried and cried. I went in to feed him at 4:30. I don't know if he slept at all in between. I think he might have. He would stop crying for a few minutes and then start again. Poor guy. Then he slept til 8. That part was great! It's only 8:40 and he is starting to sound tired. I hope he wont' cry so much tonight. I don't know how my husband has always been able to sleep through that stuff. Lucky guy.
So I have a bunch of pictures I've been wanting to upload to my blog, but I can't find the USB cable to download them from the camera to the computer. I've been looking for it for about 5 days. So strange, it disappeared and a different, unidentified USB cable showed up. Hmmmm. Mysterious.
Yesterday was a really bad day for Aisling. She was so wild and disobedient and attitude-y. She is in need of constant attention I guess. Why can't she just 'be'? Does anyone else have a wild child? What do you do to help them behave?
UPDATE: Lachlan cried and cried when I put him down for his nap. He has been going down like an angel for the last week or so. No tears or fussing at all. He just lays there and goes to sleep. Not today. He's already traumatized from last night. He eventually went to sleep, but I hope that isn't the trade off. Sleeping more at night so he can cry more in the day. We'll see how long that lasts. :(

Labor Day - The Day we refrain from Labor

We had a wonderful time at the cabin. We went and picked huckleberries and the weather was perfect! The berry bushes were loaded and we got much more than last time in half the time. Rowan did a great job, she would sit by a bush and pick and eat.
The next day we went to Warm Lake. This day was cold and rainy. We decided to hit some hot springs. Of course everyone else had the same thought so each hot spring we stopped at had people in it already. ( I'm talking about spots on the side of the river, not a pay pool) So we luckily made it to this fabulous beach on the lake and it was rainy when we got there, but just stopped and the sun came out. It was remarkable. There weren't any people there! We unloaded the canoe and paddled around with the girls and had a picnic lunch. It even warmed up enough that the girls got in the water. Of course then they were cold every time the sun went behind the clouds and they got their clothes all wet. Just when we were leaving the hordes showed up. It couldn't have been more perfect!
Then we stopped in at a hot spring and enjoyed the scummy soak. It was a huge 'pool' and the girls all enjoyed splashing around and collecting rocks and there was enough room for them to do so. Rowan has become a little fish, even without the swimming lessons the other two got. (Why don't they let two year olds take swim lessons?It seems with my kids, they increased their fear of getting their face wet with age) She puts her whole face under, eyes wide open and doggy paddles through the water. It is amazing to me to see her.
We came back in time to actually work around here all day Monday. Call me crazy, but I just love getting things accomplished. I think I let it take precedence over fun a lot of the time. So this weekend satisfied Abram & me. We relaxed, played, and worked. We ate a lot of great food and spent time with family. Thanks Jeni, for inviting us to the cabin! Our girls loved playing with your girls. :)
So I decided the only way to get Lachlan to stop waking up so much was to go cold turkey on him and let him do the cry it out thing. I was so stressed about it! Last night when I went to bed I was in a cold sweat and felt near to tears with the prospect of a long night of sobbing baby. I then decided on the first night I'd get up about half way through (2 am) and feed him and then again about 6. But Crazy thing- he slept all the way til 1:45. And then again until 5:45. So he really didn't learn anything because the only times he woke up he still got fed. Crazy! The kid wakes up consistently every two hours on the dot for months, then suddenly he catches my vibe or something and decides to sleep til almost the exact timeframe I had laid out for him in my mind.
So the night went rather well, but I'm afraid it accomplished nothing other than we both got a little more sleep. Which really is the point, isn't it?
My friend, Melonie loaned me a book that I had tried a few times unsuccessfully to get from the library. It teaches that most kids are overtired and that is why they cry when it's bed time and fuss and act horribly. So I've been trying to put him down sooner and it has worked for him. He had gotten (me) into the habit of needing to lay by him and stroking him til he went to sleep. He has gone back to his old ways of laying down calmly and going to sleep on his own. Now if I could get it to work for the girls.... :) If only getting them to sleep more would truly resolve their behavior problems. We tried to put them down an hour earlier to test this theory. But they were just more of a problem. They didn't go to sleep. They fought and played and came down 10 times and we really weren't done dealing with them until the time after we would have normally put them to bed without a fuss. Ah well, life can't go perfectly all the time :)