Daughter took the good camera - pics lately have been less than marginal, I know.
During a normal homeschooling day around here you’ll see things like this.
I can’t tell you how much learning goes on in small moments like these. But I can tell you it’s not just about the reading.
It’s the quality time. The giggles. The habits being built.
The bonding.
It’s I Love You Stinky Face.
Kait made this collage of us all working on the yard yesterday. Jesse slept through most of it but the rest of us worked for hours to get more work done. It’s looking better everyday, though quite a bit of the work yesterday didn’t produce that much visual result, only sore legs and sleepy eyes. Mine mostly.
Click here to see it full size.
I can’t tell you how pleased I am when I find ways to save money on big, potentially spendy projects. First, we discovered that the ground was quite soft and didn’t need any special covering in the picnic area to create a comfortable spot. I just planned to buy a border of some sort and section off that area to make it look more ‘on purpose’.
But, while working in the yard yesterday I started to get an idea. We have a big pile of twigs and branches in the back of the yard. I though “pioneer woman!” and got to work creating a twig border. I figured it would be free and wouldn’t take all that long.
But I didn’t figure it to be sorta ugly.
So I dismantled it and thought some more about how I could use what I have to border the area. Turns out the shed came with some fence posts and there were some good size logs at the bottom of the twig pile. We were able to frame the area perfectly! And we even created a toddler play area on the side. It looks very campground-ish and I like it a lot.
So far we’ve saved more than $300 just using what we already had laying around.
Free makes me so happy!
This is what the boys got done on Tuesday. From the angle of the picture the pile looks smaller but it was really pretty big. We were holding our breath hoping it would get picked up with the Wednesday recycling. And it did.
By the way, did I mention that we don’t have to pay for trash services here? The city covers it.
While Ryan and I were at the store yesterday the kids, all 7 of ’em (okay, I can’t say for certain that Jesse actually did much), worked hard and got this done – with Kait as the ring leader. We have 1 regular and 1 toddler picnic table and the house came with a picnic table. So the kids busily raked and cleared for a couple of hours and created a picnic area for us. Ryan and I had planned to spend a couple hundred on pea gravel or similar playground material for the area but after the kids were done we were quite pleased with the leaf-less ground.
I can’t believe how soft the ground is. Once the leaves, twigs, and weeds were pulled up it felt so good on my bare feet. We’re just going to border off the area and leave it. Instead of paying for the ground cover we’re going to put that money into stringing up some cheesy lights to make it more entertain-ready.
That means all you peeps will have to come for a visit! You can’t let all my kids’ hard work go to waste, now.
I smell bacon.
Time to get off the computer.
It’s because we use cloth. Oh how I wish they were as simple as disposables, but saving money is rarely the most convenient route.
Much to my husband’s chagrin, we spend an unusual amount of time on diaper conversation. Which ones are best. What and when to buy. How much to spend. How to wash them. What’s that smell? Can we please just buy a pack of disposables?
And now, why is Jesse’s poor bum looking all torn up?
Potty training a 19 month old usually isn’t easy, though we started training Jesse a few months ago after a bad blueberry episode - to air out his behind and see how he would do in undies. He did well, but never figured out to tell us when he had to go. He just held it until he couldn’t hold it anymore. This means we had to remember to take him at regular intervals throughout the day or he’d just pee wherever he was.
Potty training at any age almost always means accidents, and they were super easy to clean up in our tiled house. But this new house has wall to wall carpet so you probably imagine my concern. I’ve been a little hesitant to continue potty training since we got here.
And then there were all the crazy happenings at our house in that first week after we moved in. I ended up deciding to go back to diapers; it was either that or lose my sanity.
But his little bum…
Usually something like this is either a PH issue or a detergent residue problem. I have tried all the recommended cures, and run the diapers on the sanitary setting with no soap 3 times to no avail. I am thinking it may have something to do with our weird water. You know, the stuff that lets off a gasoline odor when it rains too much?
It’s why we have a water dispenser now.
Whatever the issue is with the diapers it is a given that we can’t use the cloth right now, and I certainly don’t want to go back to buying disposables all the time.
Time to return to potty training I guess. And really, when I think about it, I’ve got to potty train Jesse someday.
I wonder if my droid has an app for this.
This is our new backyard. About a 1/2 of it, actually.
It has amazing potential but there will be a lot of manual labor involved in turning it into the yard of our dreams. This is good. With 6 boys we are always looking for guy-work for them. There are a ton of unruly saw palmettos, some scraggly bushes, piles of sticks and branches, and leaves that, in some places, are a foot or more deep. We’ve learned in the last year that our two oldest boys can handle, and really need much bigger jobs than we’ve been giving them. And we’re going to put their young, energetic selves to the test and see what they can really do.
So, as part of the first 9 weeks of school my boys are going to spend a lot of time in the yard learning a skill, burning off energy, and discovering the value of hard work.
We have the entire yard planned out, and we have a ballpark estimate of how much it will cost. And the boys, while I wouldn’t call them excited, do seem pleased with the idea of getting out there and working with dad and accomplishing more manly tasks.
They just finished working for today – with the rain now pouring – and I’ll post a picture or two of their accomplishments later on, and throughout the week as they progress.
Kait has been campaigning recently for Rick Scott. He’s currently running for Governor of Florida. She is loving the whole local and state politics thing – something I have no interest in so I’m not really sure where she’s getting it from, but I’m really happy about it.
These are pictures of her campaigning day yesterday. I swiped this slide show from Mr. Scott’s website. Kait isn’t in all of them, but you’ll see her in quite a few. She’s the blond with the dark blue shirt and braces. She also wanted to make note that she had no control over what sign she held. They were just handing them out.
[Jesse, accessorized]
Out of boredom, and the sheer fact that I am stuck in one place while feeding Jesse, I thought it would be a good time to look my name up on Google images.
I learned a lot about myself.
It was a little disturbing.
[me before makeup and hair]
[me in the morning - before coffee]
[me after yellingcalmly telling my kids the same thing for the umpteenth time]
[me, at peace - just before bed]
Now that we all know way more about me than we ever really wanted to, what do you find when you look up your name on Google images?
Do it. You’ll get to know yourself so much better.
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