Whistles and Chocolates

Yesterday, the kids and I went on a field trip with a homeschool field trip group. Our first stop was the American Whistle factory. We each got a whistle at the end of the tour, and I bought different colored lanyards for each of us. The kids were really good and I didn't have to confiscate any whistles. This is in Columbus, OH. The tour costs $4.00 per person and you get a whistle. If you can't make it to the factory, they were featured on How It's Made season 10 episode 12 and will be featured on Factory Made.

My kids are on the right end of each row.
Top row: Birdie and Froggie
Middle row: Monkey and Kitty Kat
Bottom row: Puppy Dog and Little Bear
I think one of the moms told the kids to make funny faces.

We ate lunch after the whistle factory tour and then went to the Anthony-Thomas candy factory.

This huge buckeye weighs 235 lbs. and costs $3500.00! The girls asked how old it was and found out it is seven years old. At the end of the tour, we got to sample the normal sized buckeyes. Some of my kids liked them, but most of us prefer homemade buckeyes.

Yeah, it's about time for Little Bear to clean off his temporary tattoos.

Today and Way to Go Birdie!

Last night I remembered some more things that had to be done before I went to bed. I did get the bread started last night. I was still up when Jon came home from work, and I didn't get to bed until after three in the morning. Since I was up so late, I decided to allow ourselves to head out at eleven instead of ten.

I printed off my blog post last night so I would have my list handy. It was a good thing! I decided to check my list and was reminded to have my devotional time. I chose Philippians chapter four for my Bible reading, because I knew I would need it. I actually had planned on reading from the Old Testament, but Philippians four came to mind while I was praying. My mindset today was much better than last night.

before 10:00 am list

We got everything done on my before 10:00 am list. I did make some minor adjustments. Instead of oatmeal and yogurt, we had oatmeal and milk to save time. I also heated water in the tea kettle and used that to make the oatmeal instead of cooking it on the stove and having to watch over it. I nixed the potatoes and carrots so that I wouldn't have to spend the time fixing them this morning. I had planned on putting together some cross word puzzles for the kids to use to practice their spelling words. The links on the site I had bookmarked to do that with just kept taking me in circles last night. I knew I didn't have time to do four different puzzles on my own. I didn't get the children's things ready. I let them do it! Instead of cleaning the whole kitchen I did some dishes last night and this morning. Our dishwasher is ancient and doesn't work right, so we have to hand wash.

10:00 am - ? list

We headed out just after eleven this morning. The children were pretty good about doing their homework and helping out. I was much more at peace about things today. I did call Jon before I headed home and he turned off the oven for me. I fixed mashed potatoes and peas and carrots to go with our meatloaf and bread-and-butter. We still ate lunch around two.

2:30 - ? list

Jon left for work a little later than usual. He was spending time with the kids and forgot to watch the clock. He was still on time, but just didn't get there as early as he likes to in order to get his equipment for the night claimed. I rested while the kids avoided resting. When I got up, I mandated rest time. We haven't gotten back to school. Jon suggested that we do a half day today and a half day tomorrow in order to paint the living room. I'm taking him up on it. We had a late snack. I still need to fix supper after I am done posting this. I'll probably have the children do their chores while I'm fixing supper. I really don't feel like browning the ground beef tonight. I checked the date on the meat an I still have a few days. I'll do that tomorrow.


Way to go, Birdie!

Birdie has trouble with visual perception and fine motor skills. Due to this, her writing is rarely legible. Last year, she could focus to write legibly for about the time it took her to copy two or three words. The word would often be mirror images of what I had given her as an example. Sometimes the word would be up-side-down and sometimes backward.

Following are Birdie's penmanship papers from last week and this week. For some reason, our scanner did some weird things with the pages. I didn't feel like messing with it, so I left them as they were.

Last week, I printed out part of our memory verse for her to copy. I intended to have her do part of the verse each day, Wednesday through Friday. The verse is Matthew 5:14. Everyone had it memorized Wednesday, so I gave them a break on penmanship for rest of our first week back to school.

This is Birdie's penmanship from last week. I was pleased that I could make out some of the words.


This is Birdie's penmanship from yesterday. The verse was on our white board and I didn't make a copy for her. I wanted to see what she could do. I was also pleased with this. I can make out some of the words and this was a more difficult task for her.


Today, Birdie's penmanship REALLY impressed me! Since we weren't at home and I didn't want Birdie trying to copy from yesterday's penmanship (as the others were doing), I had Kitty Kat print out a sample for Birdie to copy from.




Didn't she do a great job?

Who Me? Procrastinate?

Last year at our Owings family Christmas/New Year's get together, my mother-in-law assigned the moms with making a scrapbook page for each of their children. She even gave us a scrapbook ideas book for our Christmas present. The problem is that I don't scrapbook. I don't even get pictures developed.

Back in November Jon's mom had some of us get together at her place to work on our pages. It's probably a good thing too. One of my sisters-in-law gave me some sheets of scrapbook page paper (or whatever it is called). I had asked previously what size page. The answer I got was, "The regular size." To me regular size paper is 8.5 X 11. The pages my sil supplied me with are about 11 and 15/16" X 11 and 15/16". Like I said before, I DON'T SCRAPBOOK! This was one case in which procrastinating was a good thing.

I had some of the pages done yesterday. The rest I finished today. Keep in mind the following:

1. I DON'T SCRAPBOOK!
2. Since I don't scrapbook, I don't have very many scrapbook supplies.
3. Since I don't have very many scrapbook supplies, I had to make do with what I did have.
4. It's a good thing Jon let me keep a few of my BHG magazines "just in case the kids need to cut something out for school".
   
5. No one else in my family seemed too interested in helping me.
6. Due to number 3, I only have school glue. You know, the stuff that isn't supposed to be used with pictures and makes paper warp.
7. That's alright. I don't have "real" pictures anyway. Remember, I don't get pictures developed. I printed the pictures out on regular printer paper and cut them out.

So, without further ado, here are the pages I came up with.

This is the page for Froggie. I didn't have any good pics of just her.

I could probably do an entire scrapbook of Kitty Kat reading.

Birdie

Monkey

Puppy Dog

Little Bear (He was still Baby Bear at the time of the pics.)

Jon took the kids to Young's Jersey Dairy a while back while I was needed elsewhere. The clip-art images on this one are from
http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/index.htm .

These will have to do. I'm out of time. We have to be at the get together at 6pm today.

Busy Times

I haven't been posting much. I've just had too much on my plate. Here's a little of what we have been up to.

Birdie, Monkey, and Puppy Dog sung in the children's choir with the adult choir the Sunday before Christmas. They did a wonderful job, but we forgot to take our camera.

Christmas day we did our Christmas first thing in the morning; Christmas and a niece's birthday at my parents' house; Christmas with extended family on my mom's side in Lynchburg, Ohio; and then we came home and had to settle the kids down so we could all sleep. Jon and I made the decision not to use credit for Christmas this year, or use credit for other things either. Aside from a few small items that we had picked up here and there through the year, all the gifts we gave this year were homemade. Jon and I did not exchange gifts. We didn't have enough time without the kids around so we didn't get to finish our main gift to the kids. It's just as well though. The gift has become a project for our family to work on together and the kids are excited. Jon is even taking a few days off work at the beginning of the year so we can work on it. I'll try to do a post about it after we finish.

This week, we're working on our projects for Jon's side of the family and the kids are spending time sleeping over at my sister's and parents' houses. Tonight we will all meet up at Mom and Dad's house for a New Year's party. Tomorrow we have our Christmas/New Year's celebration with Jon's side of the family. I guess I better get back to work on those projects.

Merry Christmas! and Happy New Year!

I about forgot to mention that our kitties were spayed/neutered and declawed Monday. Normally they are good about taking medicine, but not this time. They have a combination of an antibiotic and pain killer to take and they fight it tooth and back claws and writhing even though we scruff them or wrap them in a towel and scruff them. It takes both Jon and me working together to get their medicine in them. They foam at the mouth and try to spit out the medicine after I give it to them. The stuff must taste nasty. The poor pathetic things just lay around and want to be cuddled now and then. Does anybody know how to make a collar to keep them from licking their incisions? I was told to make them if they start licking themselves, but not exactly how to make them. So far, they aren't licking the incisions. I have to take them back to the vet to get their mittens off Friday.

Creative Writing

Yesterday, I had the children do some creative writing. I won't grade their creative writing. Later, I will start having them circle the words they think may be misspelled. As they learn about different things in their other classes, I will start having them edit and rewrite their entries. For now, creative writing is just a time for them to have fun writing and drawing. Obviously, they all have areas they need to work on. I am pleased though. They all put forth more effort than they had at the end of last year.



Birdie, Puppy Dog, and Baby Bear were to draw a picture of a newborn baby:

Birdie says hers "looks like a baby in the manger with grass".


Puppy Dog's:

Baby Bear's is one of two things. Yesterday, he said it was baby Jesus's blanket. Today, he says it is baby Jesus's bed.

Monkey was to pretend she was a newborn baby and write about a day in her life:

"Waaaa! Waaaaaa!

I wos cold.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

waaa! ssssssssssssss.

SSssszssssss.

I was sleqing Then I waokuq.

I was waringy A rose pink Dres!

Froggie and Kitty Kat were to suppose they were able to visit the time and place of Jesus's birthday and write a letter to their parents describing the events:

Froggie first wrote from a calf's perspective and then from Mary's perspective:

Imoo

I am a cafe

who is happy

That I am

olade

That I can

see the newbo Baby

goodbye


I will love to be happy to be marry

I will be expeting NewBorne
Baby And he will bwe Name

a Baby god's son And she will call him
Boy
Jesus When Jesus Was 30
year's old He cam to the that

god hade made then

When he was kind and then

he went Away Far away From

his diciples houses

and then Santan is so mean
that he wed didnotnouticthat

termping him

and then he died on the crose


I think Kitty Kat was trying to write a book:

11/10/08

Dear Mom and Dad,

my work is going very well. Yesterday something happened. I was sweeping in the inn, like I always do at high noon. The inn was as full as a basket filled to the very top. I was sweeping the dust out into the street, when I saw two peaple and a donkey coming down the road. They stopped in front of the inn, and a man helped a woman of the donkey. They went inside the inn, and I followed them in. As I was putting the broom away, I heard the inn keeper tell them, "Sorry, We do not have a room you can use, but you can use the cave we use as a stable, but you will have to sleep with the animals." Then the innkeeper called me and said, "Take this couple's donkey and lead them to the stable, but let the woman ride the donkey, she is pregnant." Then we went outside, and the man lifted his wife onto the donkey, and we headed for the stable. Once we got there, the man helped his wife inside, and I followed, still leading the donkey. When the donkey was in a stall, and had water and food, I said, "I will be out here later today to take care of the animals. I will also bring some food and water with me for your dinner. But, do you need some right now?" I asked. The man said, "Yes, we would like some food, as soon as you can, please." I went back to the inn. When I found the innkeeper, I said, "Master, the couple asked me for some food and water. I sit all right if I get food and water and take it to them?" The innkeeper said, "Yes, but run back as soon as youcan. You need to finish your chores befor you have to go feed the animals." I said, "When I go to feed the animals, I need to take the couple some dinner. Is that all right?" He said, "Yes." So I got the food and water, took it to the couple, and then I ran back so that I could finish my chores. When I got done, the innkeeper gave me my dinner, and while I was eating, he said, "Take an extra lamp with you tonight, so that the couple does not have to sit in the dark, and take the lamp as soon as you are done eating. If they need anything, get it for them befor you come back to get the feed from the storage room. And don't forget their dinner." As soon as I got done, I grabed the food, the lamps, and a bucket to carry the things to the stable. When I got there, I got the unlit lamp, lit it with the other lamp, and set it on a shelf, then I gave the couple the food and then I walked to the spring, filled the bucket with water, went back to the stable, and gave them two cups so that they could get their own water. Then I ran back to the inn, grabed the feed and another bucket, and went back to the stable to feed the animals. I fed the animals, then I went to the stream. On the way, I figuered out how many trips it would take me to do it with one bucket. When I came back with my tenth bucket, I heard cries of pain coming from the stable. Then I heard silence. Suddenly, I a new born baby's cries. I walked as fast as I could back to the stable. When I got there, in the manger was a baby boy. I very, very slowly walked closer. When I got a cubit away from the happy couple, I said, "What is the baby's name?" They looked at me, and the woman said, "His name is Jesus, Son of the living God." Right as she said this, the inn keeper walked in. When he saw me standing by the happy couple, looking with love at the manger, he looked at the manger to. When he saw the baby, the woman said again, "His name is Jesus." Then the Inn keeper and I went back to the inn.

With Love,

Your Datter

A Tickle For Tuesday

My mom sent me an e-mail with a link to a monitor cleaner at the end of January. I put off following the link until tonight.

monitor cleaner

It turns out that it just had to be a "God thing" that I went to it today. I needed the humor.

I had decided to share the link, so I went to create a post. Just as the posting template came up, I heard what sounded like the pressurized steam being released from a paper mill. If you have been in the vicinity of a paper mill when this happens, then you know what I mean. If not, then imagine the weight blowing off the valve of a pressure cooker. The sound came from my kitchen. No little people were in the kitchen. I went to investigate and discovered that the water line to our dishwasher had blown off the hot water line under the kitchen sink. Steaming hot water was spraying (think high pressure) out of the pipe out toward the cabinet door and all over my hardwood kitchen floor. "Quick, grab some towels!," I hollered. Kitty Kat and Monkey came to the rescue. I tried to turn off the valve, but I wasn't strong enough. I had to go find a pair of pliers. Finally, I was able to turn off the water.

The two girls helped clean up the water from the floor, emptied the cabinet, wiped off each item they took out, discarded soggy items that couldn't be saved, dried the cabinet, and put everything away. Meanwhile, I changed my clothes and started a load of towels in the washer. Puppy Dog helped get me an empty basket for getting the load out of the dryer so I could change the loads around. He also took the full basket out of our tiny laundry area for me. Both boys wanted to be in on the action in the kitchen, but I kept shooing them away so they wouldn't get their feet wet and have to change again before bed.

It is now about 9:45 pm here and the kids are all in bed. They're only forty-five minutes late for bed.

Where were Froggie and Birdie? They were in a trance in front of the T.V. They were completely oblivious to what was going on a couple rooms away. It was probably a good thing though, they would have been scared.

Hmm...I guess I better go fold that laundry.

What's in a name?

I haven't posted for a few days and I am drawing a blank, so I decided to post about my children's nicknames.

The girls were easy:

Froggie

When Froggie was born she had this big belly that flattened out when she was on her back and her legs reminded us of frog legs the way she held them.

Kitty Kat

We chose our children's names with the idea of ease of nice nicknames in mind. Kitty Kat's nickname was chosen before she was born (If we have a girl, then...). My mom actually added the Kitty part if I remember correctly.

Birdie

Birdie ate like a little bird from the time she was born. When she started eating solids there were times that my mom and I both would take turns putting bites in her mouth and we still couldn't feed her fast enough. At home we just let her fuss between bites. In the movie FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong about the movie.) the father calls one of his daughters his little bird. After we watched the movie, J. started calling Birdie his little bird and the name stuck.

Monkey

At the hospital after Monkey was born she kept crawling up over my shoulder. I had to keep pulling her back down. She has always been our little Monkey.

The boys weren't that easy:

Puppy Dog

It seemed like it took forever for us to pick a nickname for Puppy Dog. We wanted to stick with the animal theme, but we just couldn't figure out what name suited him. When he started to crawl, he crawled like an inchworm. I didn't want to name him worm or snake. Then he started going around acting like a dog all the time. He would go all over the house on all fours, he would come up to us and lick our hands, he would pant if we asked him how the doggie goes, etc. So, Doggie (and other forms of the like) he became.

Baby Bear

It was equally difficult to choose a nickname for Baby Bear. He used to scream like a wild cat, but we already had a "cat" and J.'s rival high school's mascot was the wildcat. Further screaming and growling brought us (after much deliberation) to Bear.

____________________________________________________________________

Speaking of Baby Bear, while I was typing this, I caught him pretending to be a preacher or song leader.

I was going to post a picture, but for some reason I can't locate the file it went to. Maybe I can add it later.

Eight in the Kitchen

My wonderful husband gave me a break so that I could relax and try to get rid of a headache. Meanwhile, J. started making egg kisses with all six kids in the kitchen. He was very patient! I usually try to have one or two kids help me in the kitchen at a time. On occasion I will have them all help, but I have to be in a really patient mood.

After a while, I joined them all in the kitchen and helped them finish the egg kisses. Every time I turned around I was tripping on someone. J. had to help me stay calm.

The Kids Like Their Presents

They like them so much that they kept disappearing upstairs today to play with their Barbies and other toys. Our upstairs phone/intercom needs a new battery and they ignore me when I holler. So, in order to get them to do their chores today, I had to have them all take a potty break and then I locked* them downstairs with me. It's amazing how much can get done when we work together.

*The door that leads to our upstairs has a keyed lock on one side and a turn button on the other side. The kids used to lock each other upstairs so we had to turn the handles so that the turn button is on the stair side and the keyhole is on the other side. That way, if the door gets locked, the kids can unlock it if they are on the stair side. DH and I usually have our keys somewhere downstairs. I just kept mine in my pocket this afternoon.

Did You Know . . .

that I have silly girls?

The four girls had choir practice this morning. They all did really well following directions and listening to their leaders. Then, when practice was almost over, I noticed Birdie* (who was in the front row) reach into her pocket, pull something out, and start messing with it. (Birdie is like I was and always has something in her pockets.) I notice that her hand is going back to her pocket, so I bide my time and watch to see if she will put whatever it is away. The children's directors don't seem to notice that she isn't standing with her arms down to her sides like she is supposed to. She did put it away, but then she took it right back out, took the cap off (at this point I realize she had a Chapstick), applied it to her lips, recapped it, and put it back in her pocket. I was not close enough to her to actually see what she had but I was able to interpret her actions. I couldn't for the life of me figure out where she got the Chapstick from. Then, as I watched her repeat the process, I realized she didn't have a Chapstick. She was only pretending she had a Chapstick. I motioned for her to put it away and put her arms to her sides and she grinned at me and complied.

When the kids were dismissed from practice, the girls came over to where I was. Birdie came over and I said, "You know, you're not supposed to put on your Chapstick on during choir practice." Birdie giggled. I then put some of my lip balm (which was warm in my pocket) on each girl's lips. I figured they must need it if Birdie was pretending to use some.

*I named Birdie with her permission.

I.A.H.

My oldest two daughters were just initiated into I.A.H. (I Am His) last night. I.A.H. is a Bible club for middle schoolers. They had to attend five meetings during a set time period and memorize four bylaws, The Beatitudes, and Mathew 5:11-12 to be eligible. Last year I messed up and they didn't get to enough meetings. There wasn't a class for me on Sunday nights and I thought I.A.H. met on Wednesday nights. We were faithfully at every Wed. night church event. Then when it was almost time for the initiation, I found out from my niece that I.A.H. was on Sunday nights. I guess I could have found something to do on Sun. nights. Oh, well. The girls got to be honorary members last year. This year they are full members. Kitty was hoping this year to have a leadership position in the group, but since she isn't a two year member she is ineligible.

A freezer and A Cabinet Done and A Refrigerator to Go

Kitty Kat helped me defrost our freezer today. She helped unload it, use a blow dryer on it to speed the process, dump out buckets of ice and water, and then reload it. The whole thing went much smoother with her help. I really enjoyed working with her.
Monkey also helped dump a bucket of water and ice. She also took the items we needed to toss out to the trash. If I remember correctly she even had a smile on her face. ;)
The other kids (perhaps not Froggie) dropped by from time to time to check out the progress.

Puppy Dog and Baby Bear helped take everything out of a corner cabinet in our kitchen for me. The cabinet is very deep and I can't reach the back of it. The little kids enjoyed helping because it meant they could climb into the cabinet.
Monkey wiped out the cabinet after the boys cleared it out.
I then inventoried everything and then organized it in the cabinet.

Now, I just need to clean out the refrigerator and I'll be ready for a big restocking trip to the store.

Froggie did help empty the dishwasher today. Monkey then refilled it and I checked it added a few more items and ran it.

Birdie did put away her videos. She fussed the whole time, but she did do it. She needs a Strawberry Shortcake fix. We haven't watched her videos in while. Perhaps, I could let her watch one tomorrow.