Catch-up

Have I really not posted in almost three weeks?  Good grief.  This calls for a good old fashioned list post.

• My daily wake-up time hovers around 5:00 AM.  I don't use an alarm clock, I simply tell myself that I want to wake up at that time.  If/when I wake in the night, I look at the clock and tell myself, "three more hours", "one more hour" and so on.  I get myself out of bed by remembering it is the only time for quiet contemplation that I have.
• Bedtime is fairly consistent: in bed by 9:30 PM, drifting by 10:00 PM.
• We still all go to bed at the same time and sleep in the same room.  It is a double-edged sword in some ways, but more weighted on the side of Good.  It definitely keeps me accountable to be in bed earlier, and I love the lights-out conversations with the boys.  I sing to them every night.  When we're in bed early enough, I read to them. Any kind of night-time troubles are handled by boys whispering, "Mama...?" and I'm not bringing anyone back to bed all night long.
• The downsides: no evening solitude, the only quiet evening conversation between Blaine and I occurs if/when the television is on.  Ah well.  It is the path we have chosen.

 Grackle Patrol

• Spring! It has been such a relief to send the boys OUTSIDE to play for more than 30 minutes.  I am so, so thankful for spring.  Things were starting to get a bit stir-crazy in these parts.
• The fellas spent a couple of days in the trees on bird patrol, pounding plastic buckets to bits and denting metal containers with Great-Grandma S.'s old croquet mallets, making a wonderfully booming racket.  The grackles had just arrived back for the season and congregate in great numbers in the grove around our house.  It would go from loud, raucous chattering to silence and the sweeping flap of hundreds of wings as the buckets were pounded.
• The last couple of days have been misty, moisty mornings, when cloudy was the weather, and just delightful.  I made sure we were done with our schoolwork in record time this morning just to get outside and enjoy the dampness.

 Yessir Grok and Spiderman

 Eliah looking out the mouth-hole of the Spidey Costume

• The boys went through quite a spell of dress-up this winter.  Jamie mostly, wearing his crocodile suit most days for what felt like weeks.  It was the cutest thing.  He cycled through other costumes as well - dragon, Spiderman, frog, cow, etc. - but always came back to the "croc-a-aisle" as Eliah calls it.
• In recent days, Jamie has been very interested in hauling around his bunny family - my big, white bunny from childhood, everyone's favorite Bunny Rabbit Smudge, and the little brown bunny in green overalls.
• This has inspired Eliah, who has been tending his menagerie of teddy bear, ant-eater, snail, croc-a-aisle, and bat.  He sleeps with them every night and when he wakes up in the morning, his hands are full of stuffed animals plus his water bottle.  Every morning.
• Yiya calls soldiers "Yessirs".

 

Freaky Friday

• And this is what romped down the stairs one morning before lunch after things had been a leeeeetle quiet for a while.  The Pig Bros. in two of my reserved vintage dresses.
• I finally cleared out my vintage dress collection last spring, after realizing that I had had enough.  I just can't keep all this stuff.  Blaine might as well have hooted and hollered and said, "'bout time!" 
• I've been reading more and more poetry of late.  It really, really hits the spot.  It spurs so much thought and emotion.  I loved the atmosphere it creates.  The literary power it holds.  I am amazed by it.  
• I am almost done with Dakota by Kathleen Norris (I've been reading it since June) (ala Mother Culture) and at one point in the book I thought to myself, "She could have said this so much more succinctly in a poem...."

 The most amazing carrot ever

• We are almost finished with our second term in school.  Huge successes have been the establishment of Circle Time, regular Picture Study, Folk Songs, our first foray into formal Math Lessons, Habit Training, weekly pencil drawings, establishing Reading Practice, afternoon athletic practices, and a more established routine.  This is a real homeschool, where in past years it felt more like practice.  We are catching our groove.  It feels great.
•  In the Room for Improvement category: keeping Littles under wraps and maintaining the self-discipline to keep a steady routine day in and day out (me).  I feel like I've made strides in both areas.
• So we have had A LOT of wins this year.  I am so pleased.
• A funny related side-story: I keep crying while reading Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution by Natalie Bober.  The difficulties that the Adams family endured, the intensity of the build-up to revolution, the political unrest, the strain . . . all I can say is "Wow . . . I just never knew".  There is something about a narrative account of history that leaves text books in the dust.  Dead and dry and parched.  
• The boys are quite concerned as I choke up, working on either regaining my composure or squeaking out the words, and pat my back or give me hugs.  Diego tries unsuccessfully to comfort me by saying, "It's just a book". (Riiight.) The tender-hearted things. I told them this morning that I don't mind crying about it at all - it is helpful to understand people and life better.  
• If anything, I've come to a much greater understanding of the origins of our nation.  How young we truly are, what amazing principles it was founded on, the irony of the birth of a nation combined with the demise of many other nations, the fact the war and squabbles are the neverending story of humanity.  And so on.  I am amazed.
• Truen is reminding me that my "five minutes" are up.  
• Time for a popcorn snack.

I have to write it down ASAP

 The little dinosaur on the left

Eliah has been saying the most hilarious things recently.  He has moved into longer sentences that allow for greater complexity in communication.  It has been delightful to hear what is going on in his little mind.

****  ****  ****

"Why you call me Doll?"

:: To Blaine, whose nickname for him is, you guessed it, "Doll".

****  ****  ****

Mama (calling from the kitchen): "I'm ready for boys to get the table ready to eat....!"
Eliah (from the other room): "Be patient, Mama."

****  ****  **** 

"I naughty and you dumb."

:: What he said as I walked into the bathroom after his two-minute time-out.  I laughed at this one for quite a while. 

 ****  ****  ****

"I catched this restapede."

:: Proudly showing Diego the millipede he caught. 

  ****  ****  ****

"I do it myself!"

:: Like a broken record.  Last month it was "Me do it by myself!"

 ****  ****  ****

"What's a-daaaaaat?"

:: The question of the day, every day, all day.  Answers simply result with another question.

Booklist for boys

 Books my boys have loved:

• Hatchet (et al) - Gary Paulsen
• Woodsong - Gary Paulsen
• My Side of the Mountain - Jean Craighead George
• Old Yeller - Frank Gipson
• Rascal - Sterling North
• Where the Red Fern Grows - Wilson Rawls
• Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH - Robert C. O'Brien 
• Black Beauty - Anna Sewell
• The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book - Rudyard Kipling
• Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe
• Little House Books 1-4 - Laura Ingalls Wilder

Future Reference:

• Little Britches - Ralph Moody
• Stone Fox - John Reynolds Gardiner
• Penrod - Booth Tarkington

My older boys are currently 10 and 8 years old. 
All books were absorbed either via audiobook or read aloud.

Further honing

I've been tweaking our homeschool schedule in recent weeks with hugely beneficial results.

The revised morning flow

• Eat earlier (me)
• Breakfast at 8:00 AM
• Preschool Circle Time / Lego Time
• Circle Time
• Table Time
• Free Time
• Clean-up
• Lunch

Instead of a lackadaisical approach to breakfast, I am gunning for an earlier eating time.  Our mornings were getting squeezed out by eating too late.  Enough.  We are eating our evening meal earlier - we will eat our morning meal earlier as well.

Secondly, I've realized that too much free-time with the ages, stages and personalities of my children degenerates into CHAOS.  Enough.  Every morning it was the same thing: 20 minutes of freedom after breakfast comprised of frenzied battle play that resulted in the complete loss of control of the day.  From boys rampaging around the house completely naked to tears and shrieking from over-wrought younger sibs.  It was hard to reel them back in from that.

Furthermore, I was noticing a pattern: the older boys were finally settling down for focused play in the Lego Room just 5-10 minutes before Morning Chores or Before Lunch Clean-up.  I hated tearing them away from it, but the day must move on or we will be swimming in a cesspit of chaos.

Finally, I've been feeling an important urge to give my younger two boys time to themselves, to play their imaginative Little Kid games and not have to be running around the house in full battle gear.  To be baby bunnies or go fishing for crocodiles off the loveseat without brudders coming in and dominating the play.  And I've been wanting to read to them more, feeling that urgency of time pressing down upon me, wanting to share special books and really settle in and focus on them. 

Enough.  Combine the all the issues, add a dose of insight from a homeschooling post on a favorite blog, and I realized the answer lay before me.

Further structure. More order.  (Duh, Shawna.)

I've implemented Preschool Circle Time right after breakfast.  (In order to make that work I have to ensure that I eat before they do, as I read to them while they eat.)  So while the Littles are with me downstairs, the Bigs are upstairs in the Lego Room.

The result?  A quiet morning.  No AM battle play.  No rampaging around the house.  No bellowing, hollering, screaming and crying.  No spiraling out of control.  Focused attention.  Peace.  It has been AMAZING.

I am loving the quiet time in the morning with the little guys - we are reading stories, poems, Mother Goose, singing songs, snuggling and usually ending with a bit of make-believe.  Today we took a little detour and made meringues.  And all the while, the older boys are able to have a lengthy time for focused attention on Lego play.  It has been amazing.  I am absolutely reveling in it.

So we are building the habit.  It takes vigilance and perseverance to keep any good habit on track for the long-term.  And it is all on my shoulders.

Now a quick run-down on Circle Time.

PRESCHOOL CIRCLE TIME BOOKS

• My Book House: Story Time - Olive Beaupre Miller
• Poems to Read to the Very Young - Josette Frank
• The Mother Goose Book - Alice & Martin Provenson
• Clap Your Hands: Finger Rhymes - Sarah Hayes

CIRCLE TIME BOOKS

• OT/NT Bible Stories
• Elementary Geography - Charlotte Mason
• The Life of Marcus Cato the Censor - Plutarch
• George Washington's World - Genevieve Foster
• The Young Brahms - Sybil Deucher
• The Adventures of Reddy Fox - Thornton W. Burgess
• Black Beauty - Anna Sewell
• Othello - William Shakespeare
• The Arnold Lobel Book of Mother Goose

Lest you think that I am super woman because you are unfamiliar with the lay-out of Circle Time, I am not reading all these books in one day, nor I am reading full chapters or lengthy passages.  The boys can't take much more than a paragraph from Plutarch and we get through perhaps a quarter of a scene from Shakespeare before I've lost them.  It is quick-quick-quick, with the idea of a cumulative effect over time.  I am a builder.  We also sing, recite poetry, and practice our memory work.

Oftentimes, the boys are flopping around on the floor while I am reading to them or Jamie is up on my shoulders while I am hunched over the book and trying to keep my eye on the line.  It isn't pretty, but it sure is beautiful.

Curried butternut squash soup

Shucks, it's leap day - I've got to post.  My mama was a Leap Year Baby and today is her 15th official birthday.  My dad used to tease me when I was very young that my mom was "younger" than me.  It boggled my mind and I remember getting upset about it - I obviously wasn't able to wrap my mind around the concept. 

Meanwhile, I've been wanting to post a scrumptious squash soup recipe.  Most of my children can barely choke down squash, but they eat this soup with gusto - they actually shout with glee and hop around the kitchen when they realize I am making it.

Diego even asked this last time, "I wonder why I love this soup when I hate squash so much?"  Winter squash is pretty much the only thing he cannot stand.  And he is the king of the dramatic productions.  He will stuff his minor portion into his mouth all at once, hands at his throat, replete with overly-grand gagging sound effects as he chokes it down.  It is ridiculous.

But he loves this soup.

CURRIED BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP

2 TBSP butter
3-4 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
1-2 onions, sliced
1 baked butternut squash
4 cups stock
1-2 bay leaves
1 TBSP curry powder
pinch sugar
pinch nutmeg
salt & pepper to taste
2 cups milk

:: Sautee the onion in butter, adding the garlic and curry powder in at the end.
:: Add the squash, mix well, then add the stock and seasonings.
:: Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer for 45 minutes or so.
:: Add the milk and blend with an immersion blender until velvety-smooth.
:: Add salt & pepper and enjoy!

I usually double the recipe to make it last a few meals.  Sometimes I substitute coconut milk.  It's really, really good.  Really good.

Happy Birthday, Muver!

Called out by the two year old

"You got mad eyes, Mama."

After a moderately rough morning and a burning need for solitude.  Little Eliah Len.

I've also realized that while noise and commotion may be the downfall for some moms (and that does get to me eventually), my weak spot is discord.  Fighting, screaming, crying, nasty attitudes, harsh treatment of each other, mocking, belittling, seemingly endless conflict.  It steals my joy and leaves me feeling like a husk.

So interesting too, because that list sheds light on the mix of ages I've got.  Parenting kids 5 and under doesn't involve much of  the latter end of the list.  What "they" say is right: parenting older kids involves so much more mindwork.  Little guys' needs are immediate and much more simply dealt with.  But big kids?  Mentally fatiguing.

A good winter for skiing

It was a great year for snow --

Blaine skied almost every weekend in December-January.

The boys joined him several times throughout the season.

And everyone was stronger and better controlled than the year before.

 

 Yiya and I even went out with them a couple of times.

He might be in skis next winter!  Goodness.

(He's already working on the second-half of Two.)(Ay-yi-yi.)

This was my favorite walk --

Eliah was very interested in walking through the drifts.

We got way, way behind everyone else and

Outside Bay even came along for a stroll.

Not again

It is amazing, it really is.  My boys, with their frothy leader at the helm - the oldest and most impulsive of the crew - have officially graduated into "wild animal" status.  I'm serious.

At this point in the game, if my attention is directed elsewhere - phone, skype, kitchen work, delivery person, whatever it may be - they almost instantaneously rip off all their clothes and stampede around hooting and hollering like feral monkeys.

Four boys: Ten, Eight, Five, and Two. Or four wildebeests?

Those delectable chocolate curls

Shower Day: freshly washed and combed

I've developed an entire routine to keep Yiya's curls looking beautiful.

It takes a lot of attention and moisturizer to keep them tame and coiled, otherwise his hair frizzes into an unsightly and enormous mouse nest. (Stretched out, his hair goes halfway down his back.)

I wash it with conditioner every few days, apply in a leave-in conditioner, then comb through it with a hair creme.  On the off days, I spritz it with water with a few drops of beard oil added in. (Thanks Uncle Erik!)  The curls tighten right up.

As you can imagine, he detests having his hair combed.  It only happens every few days, but we have a routine for that as well: we watch Convos with My 2-Year-Old on YouTube while I comb through it.  Otherwise he is completely unmanageable: squawking, crying, fighting, curling up on me.  If Convos is on, he is mild and subdued.  So much easier.

But the real inspiration for this post ...

This morning the boys are making Lego conservatories for the flies and stink bugs they find around the house.  Everyone was gathered around the table building.  Yiya was draped in his towel.  After getting him dressed, I headed back to the bathroom for the hair creme and a comb.  He knew what was happening next.

When I came back into the kitchen, he was nowhere to be seen and sweet little disembodied voice called, "Me hiding!"  I looked around for a few seconds, laughing to myself and not seeing him anywhere, then looked under the table; sure enough, the little mister was crouched down and looking sly.

Everything unfurled as usual: Convos, creme, comb. Then I rushed to write this down as soon as I possibly could.  The "Me hiding" is just such a perfect example of where he's at right now: his sweet little two and a half year old self.

Also: the picture above.  We have local friends who run an online Catholic homeschool curriculum.  We posed as models for them last month and this shot came out of it.  We were giggling at each other. Isn't he just so sweet?

Two and a half

Eliah says

• "Shishy papo" not "fishy papo" [papo = pacifier]
• "DungeBob" not "SpongeBob"
• "Dushbrish" not "toothbrush"
• "Bana chips" not "Banana chips"
• "Sell this?" instead of "Can we buy this?"
• Adds "butt hole" into all teases and jokes
• Asks for me to sing "Hump-Dumpy-Dumpy"

Funny quotes
:: "You a lady, Mama" (fingering my ponytail)

:: "Me buy this one ship! Twenty Dollars." (Diego's Lego X-wing Fighter)

:: "No way hoo-zay" and "No fanks hoo-zay"

:: "Get outta here, butt - head." (to get a laugh) (always)

:: "Pumperdoll is, Pumperdoll is, Pumperdoll is" (his song) (inspired by Blaine's nickname for him) ("Pumperdoll" and often just "Pump" or "Doll")

:: "One . . . two . . . butt hole . . . three . . . butt hole . . . butt hole . . . butt hole" (counting to ten with me) (goodness) (there's obviously a lot of potty talk in a houseful of boys)

:: "So many yucky things" (surveying Gramma S.'s beautifully set Christmas spread)

These days

I am....

....playing the "Dragon Game" with Jamie and Eliah every day before lunch in the upstairs bedroom.  Jamie gets dressed up in his dragon costume and  I am Mama Emerald, Jamie is Baby Ruby, and Eliah is Baby Opal.  I cozy up in bed and they run around and squeak. We also do a lot of fake eating, pretend sleeping, and flying practice (AKA jumping off the bed and tearing around the room).

....playing Hearts with the Big Boys in the afternoons.

....starting the evening meal at 4:00 PM, which makes the entire night easier.  I also shifted around my other regular routines, like making stock or broth-making, yogurt-making, boiling eggs for snacks, making Blaine's weekly breakfast frittata, etc. to the morning, so I am not in the kitchen until bedtime every night.

....reading Johnny Tremain aloud and really enjoying it.  And Robinson Caruso.  And 26 Fairmount Avenue.  And Poor Richard.  And the Jesse Bear books.  And always, always Mother Goose . . . I adore nursery rhymes.

....reading Big House in the Little Woods aloud on the nights that Eliah falls asleep quickly.  Blaine is reading Indian in the Cupboard at bedtime every few nights.  This is a relatively new tradition that I am so pleased about.  (Though I did read through all of Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy when Jamie fell asleep quickly in years' past.) (But it felt much, much more intermittent than this.)

....so pleased about Skype Story Night with my Dad.  He's reading us The Hobbit.  Every Wednesday (or Tuesday) at 8:00 PM CST.  Blaine snuggles and reads with the younger boys while the big boys and I laze and listen.  I look forward to it every week.

....surprised this post turned into raving about books.

....glad to be able to out-process this afternoon.  It is so settling and inspiring, getting a good look and a dose of perspective.  I really should post more often.

2015 Book List: Completed

• The Art of Losing: Poems of Grief & Healing - Ed. Kevin Young
• The Taste of Country Cooking - Edna Lewis
• Raising Real Men - Hal and Melanie Young
• Twelve Recipes - Cal Peternell
• For the Children's Sake - Susan Schaeffer Macaulay
• Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte (audio)
• Brown Eggs and Jam Jars - Aimee Wimbush-Bourque
• Uncle Tom's Cabin - Harriet Beecher Stowe (audio)
• One Good Dish - David Tanis
• Life Skills for Kids: Equipping Your Child for the Real World - Christine Field
• Mansfield Park - Jane Austen (audio)
• Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
• Help for the Harried Homeschooler: A Practical Guide to Balancing Your Child's Education with the Rest of Your Life - Christine Field
• The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children - Ross Greene
• Notes from a Blue Bike: The Art of Living Intentionally in a Chaotic World - Tsh Oxenreider
• Cure Tooth Decay: Heal and Prevent Cavities with Nutrition - Ramiel Nagel
• Boys Should Be Boys: 7 Secrets to Raising Healthy Sons - Meg Meeke

Thoughts from rest

My head is a-swirl this morning with what I've learned in recent time, both resounding and insignificant.

Blaine is home this week.  We are getting up well before the crack of dawn and enjoying the solitude; he in his nest in a lamp-lit basement with the fire blazing next to him, me on the main floor next to the piano and our enormous bookshelf, lit by the art-deco panther lamp.  The fellas haven't been waking up until 7:00 AM, even Yiya.  The space for reflection has been blissful.

He is reading Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel and watching Roman Polanski films on his sister's old laptop.  I am working through a book of poetry on grieving and loss and reading Jane Eyre.  Many of the poems make me cry, but it is good to connect and understand more.

But: what I have learned.

......that just because I am not doing something now, doesn't mean I won't be able to implement it in the future.  What a HUGE asset this understanding is under my belt in motherhood.  I am not sunk because I haven't read Les Miserables or [insert amazing book here] aloud, nor because I have yet to implement a two hour afternoon quiet time for reading and reflection.  Shoot, we've never even had a full-sized Christmas tree.  There is time for all of it.  So many things are worked into, not instantly implemented.  They grow and change, and so the does the rhythm and routine around them.  I am their steward and shepherd.

......that accepting children for what they are is very freeing.  I remember feeling this very profoundly when I realized that there wasn't anything wrong with Baby Truen, he simply wasn't Baby Diego. (Serious and Reserved vs. Super-smiley and Outgoing)  This was very confusing to me his first year.  They are all different; how could they not be?  And as they grow older, tactics and methods that work for one are less effective or useless with another - and that is okay.  It is up to us to figure them out.  X isn't a mutant because he doesn't respond how I would or how I've seen his brothers do it.  They are who they are and it is our job to meet him there.

and not thoughtful at all....
......that all I need to brush my teeth is baking soda and a drop of Sweet Fennel essential oil.  With maybe a little salt mixed in.  We ran out of tooth powder last week and won't be able to get it for another week.  In the meanwhile, Blaine bought a toothpaste that I find unpleasant.  I thought about it a bit, then decided to take an ulterior route and I have to say, I'm a big fan.

The snow is thick at our house and the bird feeders are flocked by squirrels and winter birds.

It feels good to be at home.  It feels good to think.

I must have been very, VERY proud

Last night I slept on my back, holding a pork belly-sized pillow in my left arm like I was carrying it.  I knew it was a pillow, but I told myself in my sleepy netherworld state that it was the bacon I finished that day.  I was clutching it in my left arm like a baby.  It was warm and I swear I could smell it.

I completed my first-ever homemade bacon experiment yesterday afternoon.  I roasted it after seven days of turning it in the brine in the refrigerator.  It looked and smelled amazing.  Un.

Checking in . . . so cathartic

I realized last week that I haven't posted in eons.  Perhaps more than a month?  Life is too full.  I am juggling a huge array of "just life" within these four walls.

This weekend I pondered house servants after dipping my toes into The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook.  Yes.  It makes sense to me.  Who has time for pondering the mysteries of life when the realities of upkeep hammers down unrelentingly?

"To everything, there is a season."  I know.  But this season feels like a treadmill.  I hit the pillow at night, running on empty.  Morning refreshes, but not too long after waking, I'm back in the saddle again.

My beloved morning solitude was completely decimated by the time change.  Eliah has upped the ante and often rushes out of bed in the five o'clock hour to find me.  And if I'm still in bed, he's up at 6:15 AM almost like clockwork.

Uncle!  I am trying accept it graciously, taking what I can get.  But as you can imagine, it is hard. 

What the little bugger often looks like by noon,

due to his early morning habits . . . soooo sleepy.

I am also working toward eating at a more reasonable time, starting the evening meal in late afternoon to ensure it happens.  It has taken a reordering of habits and expectations, but it is worth the effort.

In other news, we are slowly simmering down into Winter Rest.  Our outside work is completely finished for the season and last weekend was the FIRST WEEKEND since last spring that we didn't have a full outdoor agenda.  It was amazing, and for Blaine, a little hard to take.  He felt lazy, spending the days resting and nuzzling with the boys.  Lazy.  But when you've been in a full-on run for months and months, it feels strange to sit for a good length of time.

I picked away at little nagging tasks, like reabsorbing last summer's clothing into storage and busting piles that have been building for months.  We also took our yearly family picture for the Christmas cards.  I might even get 'em out by Christmas this year.  Maybe.  Last year it was April.

This year was the first year that we actually have a good variety of pictures to choose from.  Most years, we've just scrounged with something mostly-suitable.  But this year?  Three or four pictures were in the running.  Wow!  It was amazing.  I was so pleased.

One of my favorites from the riff-raff

Part of the success came from switching up our positioning after the first few pictures.  It added a bit of fun for the fellas - keeping them interested while giving us a chance for something actually nice-looking.  So much better.  Note to self: do this every year.

And finally, homeschooling.  This is our fourth "official" year and I finally feel like a dyed-in-the-wool, baptized-by-fire homeschooler.  We have arrived. 

We do our morning Circle Time M-TH: Motto, Read Aloud, Hymn, Poetry, Memory Work, Plutarch, Folk Song, Shakespeare, Mother Goose.  In that order.  Read Aloud: Bible (M-T), Misc. Reading (W), Geography (TH)

Morning Lessons are also M-TH: Math, Copywork.

I have yet to implement Reading Practice, but I have plans to require it 15 minutes per day, M-TH.  Both boys are reading, but only do so when forced.  I have allowed much time for growth and developmental breadth, but I am inching towards making it more a part of their lives.  We read aloud every day, they narrate and listen to audiobooks; but I can't help wanting them to break into their own private world of book-reading.

Fridays are our more relaxed day, where I "catch up" on read alouds, ensure that the bathroom gets cleaned (by Diego and Truen), and we have even been doing "Triangle Time" (haha) with almost-weekly drawings out of Draw Write Now.

So that's it from me.  I'm feeling a bit more balanced . . . the out-processing, sharing, and life-record of putting out a blog post is so cathartic.  I really should do this more often. (Ha.)

The Littles are napping and the Bigs are listening to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.  (We love-love-love HP on audio.) (Jim Dale is so terrific!)

Word from the mother.

Queen of Collards

I feel like I've Discovered Greens this fall.  We've been eating out of our garden for eight years now, but I don't think I've ever fully appreciated the potential for cooked greens.  They are so scrumptious and satisfying.  And so wonderfully cold-hardy.  When nothing else is left, there's always kale.

We are having an elongated autumn this year - it has been lovely. (And unusual.) (I've realized that I wish it was like this every year.)  There hasn't been a hard freeze yet, so the cruciferous vegetables are still going strong: collards, three kinds of kale, red and green cabbages, broccoli, and parsley too.  We would have probably had celery too, if I hadn't harvested it all in preparation for a cold snap.

I feel like I just can't get enough of kale and collards. How have I not flipped for them before?

Here's my favorite dish thus far.

Sauteed Greens and Squash

1 large onion, sliced
A couple of dollops of fat (goose, chicken, lard, tallow, etc.)
4-6 garlic cloves, minced
Half of a cooked, dry squash
A giant basket (or stack) of kale or collards
1 cup stock or dry, white wine
Salt & pepper to taste

:: Slice the onion and start sauteing in the fat of your choice in a cast-iron dutch oven
:: Don't bother de-stemming your greens - just chop and add the stem part first
:: Roll the greens cigar-fashion and cut into swaths, then chop the sections into smaller pieces
:: Add greens, mixing to stir with the onion
:: Add the stock or wine, then cover to allow the greens to steam
:: Meanwhile, chop the cooked squash and add it to the pot
:: Lastly, smash and mince the garlic and add it to the pot
:: Stir periodically and let simmer for 10-15 minutes

It is also very good with a grating of nutmeg added in.

Quick peek

Our Little Guys: Eliah and Jamie 

They were watching the heating guy check out the furnace.

I love their sweet faces and Jamie peeking out from behind Mama's apron.

The furnace had stopped working from the chicken bones

Diego had inserted into the venting system "two years ago".

Good grief.  Thankfully, everything panned out just fine.

Truen turned eight the week before last.

He had a whole day of special meals, snacks, and desserts planned out --

He was very excited about his special day.

His favorite present from Da? Snap Circuits. Obsessed.

And finally, Diego's recently-invented pose for pictures --

This is what most snaps look like these days.

 In this case, he was dressed up to play "the old man" 

in a musical production of an old Chinese folktale

with our homeschool co-op: Tikki Tikki Tembo

Jamie's babe

Last week the younger two went through a day-long "doll phase", where they were exceedingly pleased by carting around their own little baby dolls and fussing over them.

I realized that Jamie, out of all the boys, has played with dolls the least.  He has never cared for his own little "baby" before.  Diego tended his Baby Air-Pump and Truen had Baby Lamby.  And Eliah has his little Tiny Baby that he is so pleased with.

(Though I should remember, Jamie has snuggled and tended to real babies outside of the family more than any of his brudders.) (And very tenderly I might add.) (Conversely, let us also not forget his "Attack Baby" phase between the ages of 12-24 months when he assailed any baby smaller than him.) (I had to hover to protect any babies within range.)

So there the Littles were, tending their babies.  Jamie had to change untold poop diapers and Eliah was so proud to carry his baby around and snuggle it.  It was such a novelty that I took pictures and helped make little diapers and outfits for each of their babies.

By afternoon, Jamie started wrestling with his doll (a freaky-looking old one of mine, totally bald, with plastic arms and a big plastic head).  Wrestling turned into brawling and brawling turned into a full-out assault on the doll, who was pinned down and pummeled.  He was absolutely beating it up.  With deluxe sound effects.

Not too long after that, he was holding it by the arm and leg and pretending it was an underwater bazooka, shooting big missiles across the room, spittle flying out of his mouth with the force of the sound effects.

I tell you.  Nature vs. Nurture?  I just don't see any way around it.

Year 4

I'm still getting up early each morning, though the time has settled in right around 5:00 AM.  I realize that I needed to get up at 4:30 AM for a couple of weeks to decompress, but find that I am satisfied with a little later time.  It feels right.

We started school last week and it is going really well.  Adding Circle Time was Phase I.  This is when we sing, recite our motto and poetry, and do some reading aloud.  It is right after breakfast, lasts about a half-hour, and the boys get 20 minutes of free-time afterward.

This week is Phase II.  After their short break, we recommence with Morning Lessons at the table.  Copywork and Math.  I am using MEP Math, our first time delving into a math curriculum.  We are on Lesson 5 and so far, so wonderful.  I am exceedingly pleased.  I knew they were ready for it and both boys seem intrigued and excited.  Me too.

Phase III will be adding in Phonics and Reading Practice.  I'm not quite sure where to add this in, as they are ready for a break again by the time we are done with Math.  I am taking my time to get a feel for our new routine.

Phase IV is going to be doing a larger household chore.  They already do their Morning Chores (empty dishwasher, cat litters, clear the table, load the dishwasher, sweep), but I want to add some household maintenance to their daily routine.  They fold laundry on Mondays and clean the bathroom on Fridays, so I'm thinking that vacuuming various rooms Tuesday through Thursday will fit the bill.

The beautiful crook neck squash and her cousins

I've been learning all kinds of interesting things in the kitchen this past year, but the biggest accomplishment is broadening my abilities in making meat stretch.  I regularly feeds all six of us with one pound of ground meat, which is a great relief to our budget and a good way to make our beef half last most of the year.  Most of the year.

The key is using the right kind of additions to make it virtually undetectable and my favorite vegetable to do this with is summer squash.  The humble zucchini. And his other favorite cousin, the lovely crook neck squash.

I remember a woman in years' past almost-squealing about her love for zucchini while expounding on her garden, how hard it was to wait for it every season.  I didn't quite understand it, as I hadn't explored zucchini much at that point, but man . . . now I get it.

I just used it this morning with sausage.  I salted two medium zucchini and let it sit a bit, squeezed out the water, added a pound of ground sausage with my own seasoning, grated a couple of apples in with it, and we had EIGHT sausage patties for breakfast instead of last weekend's six when I had used only the apple.

[Incidentally, I am also frying apples in the fat left from the sausage with a sprinkling of whole sugar and serving it with breakfast.  Oh. my. goodness.  Why haven't I done this before??]

The sausage patties were delicious, moist, and there was room for a second helping for hungry little tummies.  A win-win all around.

Another way I've been using summer squash the last two summers is in taco meat.

Taco Salad (called "Haystacks" in my family growing up) is everyone's favorite meal at our house.  As our children are growing older, I bumped into the stark reality that a pound of meat just won't be enough for this meal anymore . . . until I added the magic ingredient.

Zucchini-laden Taco Salad Meat

• 1-2 medium onions, chopped
• 4-6 medium summer squash, chopped
• 1 lb ground beef
• 3-4 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
• salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, etc.

:: Start with the onion - chop and add to the skillet with a dollop of lard
:: Then chop and add the zucchini in bite-sized pieces
:: When everything is melty and sweet, add the ground beef in good-sized pinches
:: Cook the meat with the vegetables, stirring and moving around the mixture until nicely browned
:: Add the seasonings and let cook, stirring now and then, until it looks right
:: Add the garlic and let cook another couple of minutes

It is delicious, I'm telling you.  It is also a great filling for stuffed peppers topped with red onion marmalade.

What makes zucchini so amazing is its ability to suck up all the flavors around it, which makes it perfect in meaty dishes.  It isn't bland, it is juicy and flavorful and meaty.  And fried zucchini?  After it has been salted and squeezed out?  Almost as amazing as hash browns.

We had SIX summer squash plants in the garden this summer and we have eaten or I have chopped (or shredded or sliced) and dried every last one.  So, it's official.  Zucchini is my second favorite vegetable, in a head-to-head competition with the amazing cabbage.

I'm already sad about missing it this winter.  No fresh zucchini??