Tuesday 31 May 2011

~~cat proof~~

one thing i hate about cats is their drive to dig. it doesn't matter where the dirt is, a cat seems to think it belongs to them for the sole purpose of toileting. well, here's an organic way to keep cats out of the planters and flower beds: rose bush stems!


the big pot is (hopefully) going to be elephant garlic. the lobelia has since found a new home with some petunias.


another benefit? children learn very quickly that you don't want to play with mommy's plants!

the apostle Paul in the Bible refers to our lives as gardens...
"I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow." 1 Corinthians 3:6
where do the thorns come in?

Sunday 29 May 2011

my favorite yardsale find!

check this out! i got it for $2 last weekend. what a great way for a boy to learn the mechanics of the alphabet. T3 and i had fun putting the train together saturday afternoon. we didn't bother with order, just making a big, long train. that IS the most important detail for a 4-year-old, isn't it?


or is the best thing about it the crashing?

a very cool, useful tool for homeschoolers

my first grader finds math very challenging so to make things easier, i scoured the internet and found the neatest treasure! http://www.youtube.com/user/HarryKindergarten

this website has songs about everything. counting by 2's, 5's, 10's... being honest, days of the week and months of the year.

go on and check it out. you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Friday 27 May 2011

~~reminiscing~~

recently we joined several other families for a field trip to a historical park. it was great! on the following day, the children and I had a neat chat about what we had learned and the favorite things they had seen and done. these are renditions of that chat.

of course, the builder in the family would love this sort of building!

and, yes, the beaver was purposely colored like this. what girl could have a beaver and no pink??

Saturday 21 May 2011

~~popcorn chicken anyone?~~

i am seriously not offended if anyone thinks these are the ugliest critters God made! this year there are about 225 chicks in a brooder room approximately 20' x 20'. it's dusty, stinky, and noisy. 25 of these babies are layers and the rest...mmmmmmeat birds! anyone who has had homegrown, mostly organic chicken knows there can't be enough "m's" in Mmmm!


our first year dealing with chicks, we were proudly showing them off to some friends and the daughter asked if they had names. imagine naming 50 little balls of fur. very cute. i decided from that point on, any chicks we raised were going to be named 'popcorn.' why? well, most popcorn kernels are yellow and then suddenly they are much bigger and white! that's exactly what seems to happen with chicks, especially the cornish giants. they're little then big, with nothing in between.

the dark ones you see here are the laying chicks. they're the quickest little things you ever saw! they shoot here and there between the other chicks' feet.


more 'popcorn' on the floor.

chores is such a great way for kids to grow up. T3 loves to fill the feed buckets, missT and T2 have helped with carrying shavings to the brooder room...

Wednesday 18 May 2011

we're a little owly around here!

missT found the instructions for this little craft one day! they sure turned out well.


we found that a hot glue gun was necessary to keep the googly eyes fastened. the pipe cleaners are just twisted and stuffed into the back of the pine cone. the beaks are popsicle sticks carved down to size.


whoooooo you lookin' at?

Monday 16 May 2011

...and the van got stuck in the tractor rut...

One of my favorite songs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCcWzLAcv4o


*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

i love spontaneous outings. mrT and i never have to 'plan to be spontaneous.' we just are. i mean, who can plan getting stuck at 9:00 pm and having to call the neighbor with the 4X4 to get us out? curious what happened?

instead of turning onto our driveway, my darling husband headed down the mostly dry clay trail/driveway straight off the end of the road. it meanders past several fields, swamps, and pastures. in the lowest spots there is proof that this isn't the best place to drive a mini-van... especially one that rides a little too low and is rear wheel drive! as we were nearing the regular turn-around place, i spotted a 'white bum' way, WAY back in an adjacent field. (white bum = mule deer). it was h-u-g-e. as it turned, mrT said 'elk!' and got the caveman/hunter look in his eye. we didn't turn around.

instead we continued down this road-turned-narrow-trail in search of the big one. truly, it was the one that got away.... we turned around... we got stuck... the boys thought it was wonderful... missT voiced her concerns: we're DOOMED!

it took a lot of work getting out. rock forward, stuff sticks/logs under the wheels; rock backward, do the same, only on the other side of the tire. it took a lot of back'n'forth before we could get enough run at the rut, now with a 4" thick log in it, to pop the front tires out of the rut. even so, we drove up the hill kinda sideways because the rear end of the van refused to surrender. (yes, i chose that word carefully)

when i had a minute with the children, i told them how being stuck in the rut was so much like our lives. it's easy to disobey or lie or cheat or ___________ (you name your particular sin) and stay in that rut. BUT!!! we have Jesus. he wants to help us out of our sin and, truly, He is the only way we can be truly free. the important thing to remember is that we have to surrender all of ourself so we don't go sideways through life.

Saturday 14 May 2011

Updates on the 4 MiniT's

dress up day! the left-T (4) is wearing an old dress a friend gave us, middle-T (7) is known as my rainbow (the more colors the merrier) and right-T (6) donned an old set of scrubs to be a karate fighter!

and here's little-T at 10.5 months old. super easy baby.
enjoy your weekend!!!

Friday 13 May 2011

Candy for Breakfast!

yes, 'tis true, 3 of the 4 MiniT's had candy for breakfast. to my defense, they DID have cereal and toast first.

one of the homeschooler's life saving websites i've visited offered one of my favorite ideas for getting children to clean their rooms quickly. the pitfall is you have to know how to count to 100 (doesn't that just boost your confidence in my teaching abilities-haha).

then you offer the challenge: how many toys can you pick up before I get to 100? it works wonderfully! truth be told, today was a "400 challenge" day. we sorted things into buckets, bins, and containers, threw broken what-have-you out and............ now you can see the floor in both bedrooms! thus the candy reward... (all this was done before breakfast)

AND THEN!!!!!!

i heard the incessant oinking of pig toy with batteries gone bad. missT went to check things out and, from the enterance i hear: TURKEY!!!!!!!!

ah, yes. the turkeys we have been brooding in our basement had sent a representative UP the stairs to beg for freedom from their bondage. there Hansel or Gretal was, having left a trail back to the little coop in case it lost its way, chirping at the top of its immature turkey voice. to its dismay, and the curiosity of the other five, it was apprehended and is remanded in custody until further notice.

Monday 9 May 2011

This school ROCKS!!!


what amazes me about kids is how they collect e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g!
even more amazing is that children see value in the tiniest thing. i'm guessing this is
 a little part of the 'as a child' clause in the Bible.

when MissT brought in a pile of precious stones to paint (?!) we had to make use of them first. so they got sorted from smallest to largest, haggled over about which was smaller... are we talking taller or fatter... of course, there are the unique 'special' ones.


this one provoked a great discussion about the power of water in various forms. it was hard to put back together because some of the pieces were missing so we got to solve the 'puzzle' mystery!

seriously, this does remind me of God. He has a lot to put up with in us but sees value in the tinest bits.

Saturday 7 May 2011

A Sprained Ankle and Contemplations

the last thing I did for morning chores today was sprain my ankle. i stepped off the last stair onto uneven gravel and crashed to my knees. wow... i haven't had pain like that since high school! anyway, it's gotten me thinking about how everything is in God's hands. we like to blame people most of the time, but really, when it all goes back to the One who orchestrates our life, He has everything in control. situations will change us, if we let them. I prefer to use life frustrations as stepping stones, not millstones.

one of the books I've grown to love is "Green Leaf in Drought-Time" by Isobel Kuhn. one of the great things she writes is a lesson learned by missionaries Wilda & Arthur Mathews behind the Red Curtain in China. they learned 'four anchors' from Andrew Murray. these are:

1. say, He brought me here. it is by His will I am in this strait place and in that fact I will rest.
2. He will keep me here in His love and give me grace to behave as His child.
3. Then He will make the trial a blessing, teaching me the lessons He intends for me to learn.
4. In His good time He can bring me out again--how and when He knows. So let me say, I am (1) here by God's appointment; (2) in His keeping; (3) under His training; (4) for His time.

**you should read the book. it's a bit of a tough go, but so many, many amazing things for us to glean**

Here we go!

Well, I hope there's something to catch me as I dive into this world of blogging. Since I don't facebook, I thought it might be an interesting way to keep up with us.

For starters, here's a couple of my favorite things....
Dandelions!!! (the poor man's flower garden)
Spring (life is coming forth)
Keith Wann--http://www.keithwann.com/KW/Home.html (one of the funniest men around)