Six Months!

Can you believe it!?  This boy child is 6 months already!  Oh, we love him!  He's sleeping like a newborn, but rolling, laughing, eating, loving and loved!

A billboard I drove past had a picture of a cat next to the note:  "The best 10 lbs. I ever gained."  I had to do my own version.  This is "The best 16 lbs. I ever gained." ...I mean, along with the siblings of course!  

We've started foods a little differently with each child.  This time around, he's getting egg yokes, chicken heart, salmon, sweet potatoes, avocado, banana and basically what we're eating.  If it's simple enough, we'll let him test it.  He won't be having our store-bought chicken tortilla soup for a while...we don't consider that simple foods.

 He didn't get a whole lot off of this sweet potato wedge, but he was able to practice grabbing, chewing, and it kept him contentedly occupied so we could all eat together!  

Art

Art for us comes in spurts.  This week was a strong spurt in the drawing and painting department.  

Posies -- I found this art video on Pinterest...we used the abbreviated version and worked off and on for a few days.  Letting layers dry before going on to the next part.  

 One point perspective -- After a private lesson on drawing faces by Cousin EH for L, Uncle Z came online and to show L (and eventually Kj and Mn too) how to draw a Zen garden using one point perspective.  Thank you to family for sharing your talents!!

Weekends at Home

This video was Easter weekend, but just had to share!  Maybe a futures student of our friend, TK, an enjoyer of snowboarding.

For 3 weekends we've had a pretty sweet schedule.  Saturday AM decide on a hiking location.  En route to the hike, or upon our return we would make a series of drop-off/pick-ups, then, hike at a nearby nature area.  Saturday afternoon, we would work in our backyard.  The last 2 weeks had been working to make 2 raised garden beds and a compost container/system.  This weekend, we started a chicken coop.  All the wood has been from around the house and garage, including an old wood storm door.  We still have some work to do and then chickens to acquire...but we have a possible offer.  It will be a summer-only endeavor and possibly only this one summer.  After that, as most of you know, we'll have a new babe and I have long ago decided that we wouldn't have chickens and crawlers/toddlers at the same time.  Just with the hands to mouth factor.

Sundays have been a long morning before 10:45 church, lunch, nap, then outdoor something...biking, more yard enjoyment, snow play...  This week, because Kevin was on the worship team and I had just received a box of dresses from my sister-in-love, we both dressed up.  :)  Including slippers, house crocs, and a sneaker.  Haha.  Enjoying this journey!  Note to grands:  you might have to travel to us first...we really enjoy this schedule and the lack of road time!!

Saturday...But Sunday is Coming!

Spring is a wonderful time to go hiking here!  No ticks or mosquitoes, still get to wear jackets...  Taking the less traveled paths also seemed appropriate for this "shelter at home" or "quarantine" time.  These paths through the ravine to the river we wouldn't have found on a summer or fall day.  It was lovely.  

 

Found 2 sets of tracks by the river's edge!

We've been bringing a small nature journal backpack along on our hikes and taking a little break to draw a little.  Ly and I did this time, while Kevin, Kj, and Mn climbed a hillside on a fallen tree.

Kj discovered this really cool looking thing.  We weren't sure what it was, but she found it on a juniper tree.  The following pictures are of it broken open and then pinched between my fingers...maybe not smart, but I didn't think of that until midway through the pinching.  I looked it up this evening and found that it is a gall.  A growth, a disease.  Thankfully, it was really hard to find another one...feeling like we should go back and dispose of others though.

Returned home for lunch and work on our garden beds.  The biggest in the forefront we put together last week.  Today we made the 3-section compost area and the tiny garden bed in the middle of them.  It's been fun over the years in our house to add improvements to the yard and garden.  The boards over the top are basically to keep the straw from blowing away until we get the plants and such in.

The finale of the day was "nice cream" and the 2nd half of Mary Martin as Peter Pan.  Even Kevin was able to have it!  Just didn't add any m&ms to his portion.  This batch was salted caramel nice cream with caramel sauce.  Mmm!  Kj eats "nice cream".  If you know Kj she WILL NOT eat bananas, she tastes them in everything that their put in, but for some reason this works. She won't have seconds, but will eat a full portion!  Win-win here!

But Sunday is Coming!!

Some Fun At Home

I secretly made brownies one evening.  Kevin admitted after the kids' bedtime that he thought he smelled something like that...but it worked!  It wasn't until 2 days later that I shared my indulgence with the girls (the boys went outside and we had a snitch...to be fair, the boys can't eat them, so, we were hiding them for their sake!).

L got a skip-it for her birthday last year and it came out again this spring.  

Mn prepping for our friends to deliver some "sunshine" for our garden.  Their term for the manure.

Mn and his oatmeal.  He will take what he can and add it to the oats.  There was a seasoning that I didn't let him have today (sort of rationing...he has no concept of portion size), so, he pulls out the turmeric.  Yep, he added it...just a little today, because he didn't want it to make his oatmeal smell.  Haha.  I'll have to let you know if he keeps up the turmeric bit.  Otherwise in the bowl:  oats, raisins (I portioned some for him), honey, (said no to molasses), coconut, walnuts, coconut oil, cinnamon, (said no to ginger and ____?), peanut butter (I portioned that this morning as well)…  I think that's all.  AND turmeric!

Recital

Cousin E.R. was to have a concert tonight and sing a solo, so Auntie C. got us all connected for a zoom "recital".  We had aunts, uncles, cousins, and grands...next time we'll add in a few more families.  L was featured singing and playing (on piano) "All Hail the Power of Jesus Name".  Kj was featured on violin and piano.  After most everyone was off, Anna read a poem from "One Minute 'til Bedtime", and Kevin played "Go Tell it on the Mountain" and asked everyone to join the singing.

My Own Hair

After watching several youtube videos that all told me to do the exact same thing, I decided that I'd give it a try.  What could I lose?  Nothing, is what I figured.  I'd either: cut my own hair for free and save $15-$40 or have to go in to get it fixed.  Kj was around to capture it on "film".  She's practicing using her camera for her upcoming trip to see her cousin.  So, here it is:

Make a ponytail at the center of your forehead.  Make sure to smooth out your hair around your head.  Someone with not very many waves said to straighten it, but that was a bit much for me.

Then from your forehead, you pull your hair straight down to where you want your first layer to start.  Typically, I'm not much for layering, but I went with it this time.  I expect it is possible that I will have years of experimenting in this...and on multiple girl heads!

Then start cutting, slowly and carefully, as straight as you can.

Check your progress from different angles and snip a little more.  ;)

Take out that rubber band and do some smoothing and separating.  Then taking smaller portions you do some snipping to make the edges seem less abrupt.  I even used the thinning scissors as suggested by one lady.  This is my kind of project...not too precise.  

Concentration!

Ok, seriously, this computer and the formatting on here is really getting the best of me right now!  But I did want to show you the final product and the final figures on amount saved that day.  5 heads home-cut = approximately $100 savings!!!  Winning!!

Eating Salads

Well, starting at the end of our pictures and moving backwards right now.  We've hit the end of a crazy month full of travel, plans, days off, travel, foster daycare and newborn emergency foster care.  Wow!  We're hoping to get a little more rest in the next few weeks and be able to enjoy our family, house, yard, weather, etc. without too much extra or sudden excitement!

In the last year or so my parents have been reading and attempting to find the balance in a new way of eating introduced to them by their doctor.  They were given the book Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman.  I was skimming the book a few weeks ago and getting healthy eating ideas from it.  I was almost done when I realized that it was a weight loss book, not exactly what my family needs, particularly my growing children.  I went home considering what to do, then remembered that Dr. J. Fuhrman had another book and it was at our library:  Disease-Proof Your Child - Feeding Kids Right.  The big thing here was being consistent.  Teaching your children why we're eating the way we are, splurging together as a treat, not pushing all the healthy food but modeling a lifestyle that you want them to maintain - for their health.   

We'd already been adding a wider variety of fruits and veggies into our routine thanks to membership-needed-bulk-food stores in the area.  (I'm not sure how we ever thrived on one bag of carrots and 2 peppers a week before we started our memberships!) 

Kevin has been consistently eating salads since my parents started their new eating routine and I gradually got into it, too.  I never expected the kids to eat salads, they just ate all the vegetables separately, dipping some but not all in a bit of dressing.  Well, a couple weeks ago L requested that I buy spinach, and this week Kj wanted to make a salad.  L joined right in.  They both found a little bowl, loaded it with chopped veggies, nuts, (...bacon bits), and L's favorite dressing and they ate a salad today!

Kind of fun...and yes, I'm bragging a bit...forgive me.

Spinning School

Inspired by the books about Martha Morse of Ireland:

We have found a few series of books about the lady ancestors of Laura Ingalls Wilder.  The first set about Martha Morse by Melissa Wiley is historical fiction.  The stories speak so much of spinning and weaving, that it peaked my interest.  The girls have been learning to crochet and so they became interested in spinning as well (and later crocheting the product). 

So, we know a few people with sheep and alpaca and I asked around to see if any would have any wool or fleece to sell to us for our experimenting.  Our friends with alpaca had an unused spinning wheel, just waiting to be learned on and so they invited us over for an afternoon of learning.  We checked out start spinning at the library and a few resources online at:  http://joyofhandspinning.com/.  Kevin's dad made us 2 drop spindles, and our friends provided the alpaca fleece.  I forgot to bring the camera along for the day, but here is the product of our efforts. 

A couple friends with sheep wool were going to let us buy some in the spring.  What fun I've had.  I'll be on the lookout for carders of our own (also found you can use dog grooming combs).  I promised Kj the use of the yarn I am spinning.  It will be fun to see what she comes up with!  

What a Mess

"I don't know L."

"You don't know about what?"

"I don't know.  It's such a mess.  You've got a messy mama."

"Yeah, because you like to make bread, and that makes a big mess."

Thanks for the encouragement L!!  Love you for only seeing the bread making process as our mess around here. 

Kids in the Kitchen

The girls, Kj especially have been asking to bake recently.  I have been on a kick of trying to make sourdough bread "right" and so I have been kind of selfish and have been doing it by myself.  So, this particular Friday afternoon, the time was right.  I called the girls downstairs from their "rest time" and asked if they wanted to bake some cookies.  They looked through a couple cookbooks and found a recipe that we had all the ingredients and had no need for "wait time" (refrigeration...).  They set out to make them all by themselves.  Meanwhile, on another counter of the kitchen Mn and I made peanut butter, and sesame seed butters.  He learned out to start and stop the food processor. 

All in all, my job was to get the cookie sheets in and out of the oven and give them some small tips on previously unknown areas of the kitchen.  I would say that is the best way to make cookies!!  I may have to try it again!  ;) 

P.S. For those of you who don't know...I (nearly) never make cookies.  Maybe, once every 10 years or so.

Playhouse - Repurposed Fence

We were having a great time this evening working on a playhouse for the kids.  Kevin had dismantled a section of old fence that ran alongside a chain-linked fence.  Instead of scrapping the whole lot of old boards we made a playhouse.  We have a natural playground in the backyard with lots of sticks, logs, flowers, buckets, etc.  And thought this would be a fun addition.  It is on an area of the yard that has yet to be grass seeded, so no harm to our green progress.

We bought Mn some grungy pants for crawling around in our yard, and they served him well today!  We started this endeavor while it was misting, we came in for supper while it was raining and we headed back out in the mud!  

Kj helped with planning and implementing and L was helping in a non-dirty capacity as she desired...she got nails out of the bucket, then told us to get our own. 

Those pants started the day light blue with a couple white paint spots on them...

After bedtime, Kevin and I played with the house.  We rotated it so it would sit diagonally to the yard and then layed the floor...more fence boards.  We're thinking of a fabric top, but aren't sure.  A door will be added as time allows.