Finished Product

It's really done this time! The kind lady from the Yarn shop took my hat home and washed it for me. Everyone, who didn't know what it was supposed to look like, was surprised by the looks of the hat. It's so fun to have accomplished something like this! The kids have had more fun wearing it than I have! Now, on to Catherine's hat and Buddy's scarf. I'd really like to try knitting a sweater for Caleb, but we'll see. If Samuel does soccer this spring, I may have some time while I'm sitting at practice.

Sad news, my hat did NOT shrink like it's supposed to. I still have a very unflattering sack! I think my friend's washing machine does things a little too gently and we needed something much more serious. I'm just hopeful I can actually use it before the weather gets warm.

Much better bedtime tonight. I had to basically camp outside the door and put Caleb back in bed every time he got up, which was about every 5 minutes. Finally, the lights went off and stayed off. Yay!

Getting off another round of documents to be apostilled today. I honestly don't think there's anything else they could possibly need. This time, I'm letting the USPS take care of the driving. It only takes a day, and I really don't have a day to lose.

Having some dilema's with Caleb and Samuel. It's bringing back memories of us letting Samuel fall asleep in our bed until Catherine was asleep, then moving him back. Not so fun, but we finally got it down. Caleb has been taking really great naps, then staying up until 9 or later because he's slept so well. However, without a nap, he's really naughty and cranky. Last night he crawled into Samuel's bed several times, turned on the lights, had toys in his bed. He finally went to sleep when I moved him into our bed. The night before, he had the lights on and Samuel slept through it. We have a rail on his bed, but it only covers part of the side. I'm not convinced he wouldn't just climb over it, even if we had something that went along the whole side of the bed. Patience and persistance is the name of the game.

We've been enjoying the off and on snowing of this winter. Waking up to white when you have no idea it's coming is a wonderful thing! Especially when the roads are still clear.

I'm finishing up my felted wool hat today. The knitting has been done since Friday, but I needed to go to a friends to wash it so it'll shrink right. Looking forward to posting pictures. I finished a 2nd hat for Ava, since the first was too big, started a scarf for Buddy, but promised Catherine I'd make a pink hat for her before I finished Buddy's. This is such a great way to keep me relaxed and occupied when my presence is needed and I can't really be doing anything productive.

Have a great week!

This week we...

...got new pictures of Hannah! She looks great. So happy, so big. Very thankful for that encouragement.



Started our second week of new math. We saw GREAT improvement this week in both S & C. From tears and wailing on C's part, to excitement and a big sense of accomplishment. She attempted 100 multiplication problems in her first time ever doing mult. and did them in 20 minutes. Mind you, it took 3 hours to do 100 subtraction problems on a few days. Samuel is speeding along and can do his 100 problems of +,-,/, or x in 3-5 minutes each.



Put Caleb in his big boy bed today. Woo hoo! It's been interesting, to say the least, but he's doing well. He actually told me one morning, "I go pee pee." It was to let me know he needed to go, which he did quite successfully in the potty!

...may have found a car solution! Test driving while we go to Branson for 24 hours again. Looking forward to seeing how God works it all out.

Faithful is my God. True to His word and ever loving. So thankful for being in His family.

Have a great weekend!

Since I've last posted, we've had 2 days of pinewood derby races, (Samuel got 2nd at his pack race, but didn't qualify for the city-wide race, to his huge disappointment. His car actually crashed off the washer during the spin cycle and had to be repaired hours before the 1st race. He was awarded with "Most Luminous Paint Job." Catherine got to race with a pink car, which was awarded "Outstanding Use of Decals.") finished up a 3 week cub scout requirement, started our new math curriculum, finished up 3 knitting projects (2 hats, a poncho for Catherine) and getting ready to started a felted wool hat for me. This is really fun!

It's been cold and snowy here and today Catherine and I got to sled down the slope in our front yard for a bit. It was surprisingly warm out there. We've had visitors on our back porch lately. Some of the bird seed spilled out of the bag and they got curious and hungry enough to come up to see if there was anything for them up close to the house. Because it's so much fun to see them, Samuel just dumped it out so they will keep coming.

We had fun yesterday with Buddy being home from work and school. For a while, we had Samuel, Catherine, and Buddy all at the table asking me questions to help with their work. What's great is that Samuel is learning things now that would help him teach English as a foreign language in the future.

Signing off to put the kids to bed.

The party's over

Today was Catherine's party, and boy, did we have fun! There were 6 other girls to celebrate with her, most bringing their American Girl dolls. Newer friends and older ones. We had foot soaks and then I painted their toenails alternating pinks, topped off with a little jewel. Then we sat down to some delicious tea and cucumber sandwiches, followed by cupcakes with strawberry jam mixed with cream cheese. We topped it off with presents and play time.
It could have gone on for a lot longer, but we were quite thankful for the time we had. Catherine was in heaven with her new toys. We could quite conceivable not have to play with her for sometime, because now she has 2 dolls (Christmas from Grandma and birthday from Grandma) with different outfits AND a bathtub, webkinz, a craft project, a furr real kitty that purrs and makes Nora wonder what's going on, and a pretty snow globe. What more could a girl ask for?

Happy Birthday Catherine!

Deviating from our traditional candle in the hot cereal, I made a pan of scones for our sweet little girl. Looking forward to seeing what God brings about in this coming year. We are blessed to have a spunky personality, (which I'm told is a lot like how I was at that age.)

Last night, I went with 3 other CC moms' to hear Dr. Jones. He shared with us how God had given the mandate to teach and we as HS families are fulfilling that mandate. I was so impressed with the learning that had happened with 4 boys, ages 7,8,13 and 15. They all outdid me in mental math big time.

We have had struggles all around this past week, and I feel like I've got an answer. When I told them this morning, they were both ready to throw away the a Beka curriculum and hop right on! We do have to do some testing first, but it's a classical approach and an expectancy that they are extremely capable, because of our covenant with God. It was also great to hear that all 3 families have children throwing fits, crying copiously over their assignments, and triumphing in spite of it all! I AM NOT ALONE!

This morning, I went to peek at Caleb and found him like this He woke up a little later and came out to the kitchen to tell me ,"Good sleeps, mama!" This must change, but it was a good laugh for the morning. Who knows how long he'd been like that.