Summer

Summer is rolling right along here. It's been a coolish Summer and a coolish Spring preceeding it. The pastures are green, green, green.

I'm making a lot of progress with my gardening this year. I almost want to say that I'm pushing so hard at getting things planted, weeded, and tended, that I'm not enjoying it quite as I could be. But, I have a goal of at least getting my roses growing and filling my main flower bed with flowers. The soil here on our property is mostly clay and rock. So, I put on steer compost, but I can only do so much and the soil still remains a challenge.

I recently planted two more rose bushes. My sister in law gave me four or five roses and I planted one of them where I had a blank spot and one where another rose died. I have to find spots for another two or three. I'll either have to plant them in an extra challenging flower bed and/or dig up something in my garden block flower bed. I'll have to share pictures soon, but I don't have any handy. Quite frankly I want to get things better in bloom before taking pictures.

I feel like summer is slipping away from me. We raise cattle for extra income. Because of that my husband is extra busy with pasture and hay season. I also have my step-daughter with me for a month and a half of the summer season, bring the child count up to five. She's a good girl, but being a step-mom isn't easy.

I think step-mom's have a bad rap. One always feels badly for the child that is being tossed from home to home. But, I don't know how being a step-mom could be easy. A step-mother might say, "I want you to do your chores like this...", the step-child naturally, even if respectful, says, "we don't do it that way at my other house". A step-mother might say, "Please do XYZ." A step-child is more likely to ignore her. A step-daughter might complain that she doesn't get the same privileges she gets at her other house, yet the same child wants to be involved in all the other types of fun activities you do here.

My step-daughter and I usually have a major collision about halfway through her one month time period with us (and also once during the extended time we get during Christmas and Spring Break). And I find I have a difficult time relaxing for much of the summer. Somehow, I am usually broadsided by the conflicts, as they don't happen during the short visits with us. I always hope to be more prepared emotionally and therefore have a more relaxing summer.

Also, like most any person out there right now, we are struggling a bit financially (no one is unemployed but our business continues to go down). We can pay our bills (just barely), but we don't have a lot of leeway. To some, I'm sure, this might not seem like a big deal, but we are facing maybe not going to our county fair this year, or not going to the beach due to hotel costs, and not eating out to eat at restaurants. Our cuts are just that type. But, it is stressful. It is stressful not knowing what the future brings. Really, I think these cuts are good for the kids, so they can appreciate what they have more.

Farm Animals

We keep adding to our collection of farm animals. Our latest addition are goats, Clary and Eleri (the baby is Eleri).







Our turkeys are growing too. This is the third year we've done turkeys. They are a bunch of fun. They always want to play follow the leader.

On The News Front

On the news front. We have some goats coming soon. The white one will be mine. The spotted one my oldest daughter's goat (in celebration of her 11th birthday).



And, my oldest girl broke her arm. Or, at least they think she broke it. The x-ray didn't show the break for sure. So, she may be dancing at her ballet recital with a cast on, or she may be missing it, or maybe, just maybe she might get her cast off, after only a week. But, she's off chore duty and limited dance and off violin. She's really missing violin. She asked if we could hold up her violin so she could play open strings (notes that don't need the fingers).



And, we got my little one a cello. Well, we're renting it right now. I'm hoping my oldest daugther's violin teacher doesn't mind teaching my little one cello a little (he teaches both), since my oldest daughter can't make it to her lesson. I talked to him about the possibility of starting my little one coming up soon, but made no definite plans. I figure, I will figure out some teacher who will take her if that doesn't work. So, we have three playing strings. My little girl couldn't be happier. She looks like a cellist doesn't she?

Our Memorial Day Weekend

True learning doesn't stop. I'm always impressed by what my children are learning. I'm impressed that they rise to the occasion to read challenging writing, to write in a mature and fun way, to solve math problems on their own, to learn about animals around them, to want to help with breakfast and dinner.

Just the other night, my second girl, made herself gluten free biscuits. She had trouble listening halfway through and added a little extra milk, but that's a learning opportunity, and I helped her finish them, rolling the sticky dough in more powdery gluten free flour. My wheat free girl has a hard time sticking with her wheat free diet. She is jealous of the things the rest of us eat. She is the only one allergic to wheat in our family. But, making her own goods, gives her a feeling of self-control, and she learns math to boot.

Our weekend this week went something like this. We got ready for friends Saturday morning (and get a deep house clean done to boot). Had friends over Saturday evening. My step-daughter (older than my first girl) was here this weekend. She became ill halfway through the evening. Bummer. Yet, we had fun with our friends.

Friday evening and Saturday evening there were big thunder storms. On Saturday, there wasn't so much lightning, but both days the sky really opened up and dropped its contents. My main flower garden was buried with six inches of water. Usually, even in periods of great rain common here in the Northwest, it is moist, but rarely under water at all. Friday, my daughters and I tried to take a video of all the lightning, but the video just looked like flashes of light, you couldn't see the lightning in it.

Sunday, my step-daughter was still sick. In fact, she slept most of the day. We stayed home from church and we ate German Pancakes (our traditional weekend meal). Jon worked on the fence to our new small animal field. This is the field where we keep our hens, pullets (not yet laying hens), meat chickens, and turkeys. We might also keep a goat or several sheep there in future years. I was going to weed, but my hip was bothering me, and even kneeling to weed was bothering it, so I ended up getting a beach towel and going out in the field to sit by Jon (my husband). He liked that better anyhow. He usually likes me near him. Isn't that sweet? That was most of our day.

By Sunday evening my step-daughter was feeling mostly better. By Monday (Memorial Day), she was all the way better. We ended up going to Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge (which is mainly a bird sanctuary). They have a drive through touring section of the refuge and that is what we did that day. Jon mainly goes along because he knows I like it and he finds it relaxing (to sleep in the car while we look at all the birds). Isn't that sweet? The kids all loved it, even though the birds were not as plentiful as they are some times of the year. My step-daughter, in particular, commented how much she liked it. That's always momentous to me because I want her to have fun with us and also develop a love for learning. I'm not able to homeschool her, so any progress in that direction is huge to me.

Well, here is a picture of one of the birds we saw. This was a bird I'd never seen before, but had read about, the Yellow-headed Blackbird.



And, here is a video of a rabbit we saw, who was totally unafraid of people.

Getting Back To Things

I so want to get back to blogging about our homeschooling. We are nearing the end of the "year". My plan is to continue school through the end of June and then just do some minimum schooling. Maybe we'll do math (and of course they'll do free reading) when we don't have plans.

We've got a lot going on at the end of year here. One performance this week and one the next. After next week our schedule clears up a bit.

Here is a video of my oldest girl singing a solo with her choir class. I'm so proud of her. She's usually a fairly reserved young lady and she really stirred up her courage to do this.

 

Heehee

Heeheehee. That was the sound she made too.
I love my children.

Jack of All Trades

He really is a Jack of All Trades. Luckily, he is NOT a master of none.

Spring Has Come & The Super Moon

Spring has come and now is almost over. Spring always seems really busy for us. As homeschoolers, there is always a lot of wrap up and pushing through towards our goals happening this time of year. At the same time, the weather is turning nice and we want to be outside.
 

Here recently, we got to experience a scientific event, really neat for the girls to experience. I know most of you got to experience it too. It was the super moon. I'm sure many of you got even neater views of the moon than I did. The moon here at our place came up over a hill. So, if we had a view of a flatter horizon, the moon would have appeared even bigger. But, it was pretty neat and pretty big, as big as I've ever seen. I do hope I get to see a moon like that sometime again in my lifetime. Here are my moon pictures, however. They were shot with my Canon 30D and my 70-200mm L 4.0 lens @ 200mm. I can only imagine having a really long lens for a shot like that.
 

We've Been Doing Well

We've been doing well lately. We had our moments of sickness and such (I threw my back out for a week once here recently). But, lately things have been going smoothly.

My eight year old, for instance, just had major success on division. Division! She's not my child that things come easy to, but we've stuck with it and she's had success. We've also been figuring some things out for her handwriting. I switched her to practicing cursive. I started some occupational therapy from online sources. And, I think she's left handed! She's doing better since switching her. I have an adult friend who is ambidextrous and she said to get her typing - that this made schoolwork bearable for her son. So, I'm teaching her to type. We'll still be working on handwriting, because I want people to be able to read her handwriting when she writes them, but there is a big sigh of relief.

Weather wise it's been dreary here lately. I can't wait for Spring. I'm praying for some times of dry weather. I planted some Arugula and peas in my greenhouse and I should be starting other starts soon.

We've had two news calves born so far this Spring. We have six more to go. They are cute. That's good. Calving hasn't been too bad this year...at least neither needed to be pulled, although they did need a little doctoring here and there.

My little son is now 19 months old. I love him. He's a joy to all of us. He's a mellow little guy with big muscles. Just about the only time he gets mad is when we put the vacuum cleaner away. He wants to push that thing around the house endlessly. I hope he'll want to do that a little when he's older. He's also quite an artist. At least he runs to share in the art activities. And, so far, he writes with his left hand. Two lefties out of four kids?? My sister and mom were lefties.

Ready To Be Done

Every winter about this time, I am so ready to be done with cold, wet weather. I really need a vacation to Hawaii!

We did have a sunny day here recently, but now the weather is cold and rainy again with no end in sight in the weather forecast. Oh, well. One can hope for a few breaks in the forecast. December had a few breaks, this Spring can right? Definitely not guaranteed here in the Pacific Northwest. Here are some pictures of our farm and family here recently on that sunny day. My little man really is turning into a little man and he's enjoying the country life.

Warmer Days Are Coming

The warmer days haven't come yet. We actually had some snow on the 13th of March. Mind you most of our snow this year has been the fall at night and be slushy the next day variety. This was no different. Yet, being as we homeschool, the kids were able to play in the snow for the morning before the rain came. So, were the cows, although I'm not sure the cows really appreciated the snow.

The rainy days (and time change) have made the kids (and all of us) extra sleepy.

Some Of What We've Been Doing

Life seems like a merry go round lately. I make breakfast, I clean up, I make lunch, I do a little reading, I clean up, I make dinner, we tuck the kids into bed, and we go to bed.

It's not really quite like that, but it feels like it sometimes...especially with trying to squeeze homeschooling and activities in there. My eight year old girl "fights me" a lot on school...and on chores...and on lots of things, like being grateful or basic self care or what clothes she wears. You know the type of kid, most likely. If you don't have one, you know someone who does. She is a little distractible. But, man oh man, if she actually WANTS to do something, she can whip it out in no time.

We've been working on gentle discipline lately. It's so much more effective...and challenging to do. Instead of curtly scolding the children, "girls, why don't you just get along?", I've been working at teaching them patiently. Explaining the heart of the matter, teaching them what I want, and doing it all in a soft voice. Sometimes it feels fake, but you know it's better than inadvertently teaching them to snap at each other when they don't like something. I find that when I teach them gently, I'm teaching them, by example, what I want to see in them. If something bothers them, I want them to explain the other person involved patiently what it is that bothers them and why they want them to do differently. This is not to say that I am being a pushover. Most of the consequences are the same, but I patiently, slowly, gently, with a quiet voice, explain to them what I want. I hope, a liiiittttle closer to how God deals with me, with great patience.

We've also been working on food budgets lately. I feel like I don't know how to do food budgets. With food sensitive individuals in my family and a desire to eat healthily, I feel challenged just to figure out what to make, without looking at cost. But, looking at cost I must. I must go to that cheap grocery store. But, also I must be aware of what things cost and buy low. I must say no to certain luxuries like boxed cereals and premade snacks. I hope I can do it. With rising food costs and rising appetites in our family, even though we've given up many thing we didn't blink an eye at a few years ago (like going out to eat), I NEED to cut back and save money in this area.

My little guy is growing big. I went on a walk with my husband today around the edges of our property to check on things and took the little guy with us. He's such a little man now. I can hardly stand it. It's a feeling of pride and joy, mixed with a feeling of sorrow because he's growing too fast.

In other news...I'm still using a Robinson philisophy mostly. I teach the three R's mainly - reading, writing, and arithmetic...plus of course I cover some grammar, spelling is built into writing, reading encompasses everything (history and science), plus we read the bible together, the girls do art all the time, the girls take music lessons, and they take dance. But, my latest epipheny I've had is that it really does matter that you do math, followed by writing, and save the reading for last. They may rather play than read, but reading really is a treat compared to writing.

And in still other news...the allergy tests came back on the little man. Apparently, according to the tests he is not allergic to wheat, corn, kiwi, or oranges...the foods I suspected. Of course, the tests are not at all 100% accurate. So, for now, the official allergies are peanut (which is a lifelong dangerous allergy), egg, and cat (we don't even have an indoor cat). He's still getting terrible eczema on occasion, and has a cough that really never goes away. He already is on a steroid nebulizer, so the allergy doctor told me the underlying cough might be something we just have to live with.

For me, I've actually been in some pain lately. It's been really weird. Shooting pains in the arms and legs, and lately twitching of my stomach muscles. Restless Leg Syndrome is a pain syndrome that usually affects legs, but can also affect arms and the trunk. I'm pretty sure I've had that going on for quite a while. The doctor tested my iron a few months ago when I had aggravated symptoms and suggested I take more iron. I think I've felt better taking iron, but it hasn't helped the weird stabbing sensation or twitching. I figure I'm a little B12 deficient AND/OR really sensitive to nightshades. Nightshades (tomatoes, pepper, potatoes) are a pain to give up though. Anyhow, I've started supplementing with B12 and avoiding nightshades, and I've felt better, but today I missed both of those goals and I'm feeling it. Sometimes I feel like I'm a walking allergy/intolerance/sensitivity. At least I figured something out that helps...mostly. I should maybe get my b12 levels tested...we'll see.

So, that's what I've been up to. What about you?

More later.