Here's Lookin' At You

Good for Something

A bolt came loose on this chair

rendering it un-sit-able. 

(fyi: I like making up words.)

I laid in on its side in a 

"HEY DENNIS!!  THE CHAIR IS BROKEN 

AND I NEED YOU TO FIX IT!!!" sort of way.

I thought it screamed the obvious;

my husband didn't even notice.

but I'm not bitter.

What I saw as ugh...so help me--another broken thing!

my young sons saw as a perfect spot for a 

super-duper-really-cool-army-guy-fort.

Turns out, they were right.

My Own Little George Jones

'cept mine is a lot smiley-er.

Words Escape Me

Hmm.

A rope, a bike helmet, on the potty...

I don't even know what to say.

Why This Kid Cracks. Me. Up.

Nathaniel is 14.
His 15th birthday is next month.

This kid makes me laugh
every. day.

I was looking over his answers from
his grammar workbook
and thought I'd share some of them
because I know at least his uncles
will get a huge kick out what he wrote.

The bold print is what was in the book; the regular print are his answers.
Write an example of a possessive noun used to determine another noun.  He wrote: "That's no lady, that's my wife!"

 Write a subordinate clause to finish this sentence:  I don't want to go; besides, your car heater doesn't work.
Write a coordinate clause to finish the sentence:  The artist drew a colorful picture of the Grand Canyon, but he copied it from another colorful picture of the Grand Canyon.

Micah read a story about identity theft, and he read a story on Kung-Fu warriors.

Finish each subordinate clause:  The bride looked as if  she wanted to leave.

We haven't seen him since  he got out of prison.

Finish each sentence using correct punctuation.  Whenever Jack sees a sports car   he breaks the tenth commandment.

Whereas Jana's brother wants to be a jockey,  Jana's sister wants to be a lady wrestler.

The things he says are so random! 

I think that's what makes me laugh so much, 

the unexpected-ness of it.

For example,

one day I heard the older boys roughing around.

I called down to them,

asking what was going on.

Nathaniel called back,

"Isaiah's mad at me 'cause I'm not athletically gifted."

Me: "Okaaaaaay."

Nathaniel: "I hit him in the head with the football."

How can I not laugh??

You Decide

A friend of mine from high school

recently wrote the following on my facebook wall:

"Do you know you look the exact same as you did in 

high school as in your profile pic?"

I'm not convinced about the "exactly" part,

but I guess several babies, several years,

several pounds, several gray hairs,

and some wrinkles and a set of bangs

haven't changed me that much.

What do you think?

Some Days Are Like That...

If you're my friend on facebook, 

you already know about this.

But in case you're not...

I tried to think of my favorite thing about yesterday.

I couldn't decide whether it would be

• over-sleeping
• Ruby going potty in her pretty pink underwear, and consequently onto the (carpeted) floor.
• the chair that broke in the living room (just to add to our collection of broken furniture)
• the paltry amount of schoolwork accomplished
• the cows pushing over a post that caused the roof over the feed bunk to come down
• the bitter cold
• the flat tire on the skid loader, which caused my husband to have to hand feed the stock
• or that my husband and sons were out doing chores at 10:30 pm.

a section of the roof over the feed bunk

thankfully, Dennis and the boys were able to get
 the cows out of the way before it came down.
No cows hurt, no people hurt.
This cow is apparently inspecting the damage.

A Toast to Ivy

Make that,

Some Toast for Ivy

Be Still My Heart

Be still

my heart.

The Public School Parents' Guide to Homeschool Parents (Repost)

Nicki posted about this awhile back and I loved it.

The Public School Parents' Guide to Homeschool Parents

My favs are #s 1, 2, 4, and 9.

Click on over!

Home Educating My 4 Year Old

I was sort of scrambling for something 

for Elijah to do.

"Mom, can I do school?  Can I do school?"

Then I remembered 

that I had a big jar of powdered coffee creamer

that someone had given me a long time ago.

Knowing that boys do well with sensory things,

and that it would also keep him busy,

I sprinkled some on the plate

and asked him to draw some letters or shapes.

Elijah's letter!

He had a super fun time doing this,

it wasn't all that messy,

it was cheap (FREE!),

aaaaannnd educational.

What more could I ask for?

(Other than a maid, a van, a few meals that I didn't cook,

and a tan?)

Ruby's First Snowmobile Ride

She looks comfy, don't you think?

A Girl and Her Dog

 Linnea and Molly.

A girl and her dog.

Little People Lacing Atop the Table

 I bought Elijah and Ruby

these lacing sets for Christmas.

We opened gifts just the ten of us on Christmas Eve morning.

(I know, "just the ten of us" sounds funny, even to me.)

I had to clean up all the mess and get the house ready 

before we went to church at 4:00

because Dennis' family would be coming over after chores that night.

My point in telling you this is that I tucked these lacing cards

into their school drawers and they didn't come out again until after the new year.

It was like Christmas all over again!

 I'm not exactly sure why they chose the

table for their workspace,

but I'm guessing it had something to do with Ivy

and knowing she wouldn't be able to reach them

if they were up there.

 Not kidding--they spent a good half hour, maybe 45 minutes on top 

of the kitchen table,

lacing and lacing and lacing away!

My point in buying these was two-fold:

1. I knew they'd love them.

2. I knew it would keep them busy during school time with the bigger kids.

I was right!

How They Love Her

 I'm not planning on doing a bunch of 

"here's what we got for Christmas" posts,

but I did want to share what Linnea, Andrew, and Christopher

made and gave to Ruby.

 They used a clementine box and made a doll bed for her.

It was all their own idea!

(Do you like the laundry basket in the picture? I don't.

We let the kids open one gift on the night of the 23rd,

because, you know, that is Christmas Eve Eve, after all.

I had been folding clothes that evening and hadn't finished yet.)

if you click on the pictures, they will enlarge and you can see what they wrote.

Before wrapping it, 

they placed one of her dollies in the "bed"

and then wrapped it up.

Her face was priceless,

and she has been using it every day since.

Oh, I love how they love her.

My Cowboy

After only 14 years of asking,

Dennis cleaned out the storage room

the week before Christmas.

In it, he found this cowboy hat from his youth.

It has not left Elijah's head since.

And since Elijah LOVES Woody from Toy Story,

it fit right in with all the great Toy Story things he got for Christmas!

It also made a great addition to all of our cowboy gear for

the numerous showdowns that occur here on a weekly basis.

(Salena--recognize the pjs? ;-) )

Dishpan Hands

Would you like to know what happens

if you don't wash your hands well enough

when you come in from the barn in the morning?

Just ask Nathaniel.

(He took it well and I only made him wash the plates.)

Would You Like Extra Cheese with That Smile?

Extra Cheese

10 Months

Sweet Ivy Joy 

is ten months old today.

Desperate Housewife?

Ruby and Ivy got a toy kitchen from

Auntie Jenn and Uncle Jeremy.

Like every aspiring housewife,

Ruby wants to be prepared for whatever may come her way.

Which might explain 

what I found when I opened the
"dishwasher" door 

when I was picking up toys tonight.

or it could just be an indicator that these

little girls have some brothers.

Either way.

*disclaimer: the gun is fake. promise.*

so is the money. bummer.