Catching up...

When it is holiday season around here, we are almost too busy to document what we have done. Almost... because of course, I still take pictures. ;)

Alex had Crazy Hair Day the last Friday he was in school before break. It is now normal, after trying a "cool do" for a week... Fun stuff...

Last week we were talking about eagles and we decided to have an eagle tea party. So we made 'bear tea' (which is Cold Care Tea and honey), we popped the strawberry popcorn we got from our day at the farm (before the flood) and we made eagle nests. Which are pretzel sticks with cranberries, nuts, and covered in melted chocolate with two marshmallows for 'eggs'. We read a book about eagles and we watched "Living Planet - Champions of the skies" which is amazing! It was such a wonderful evening.

"Crazy kids!"

Logan watching the snow fall outside...

'Not so sure about the guy in the suit mom.'

Sweet Cyan, with Santa from the PD Christmas Party.

Logan Update

Logans first Christmas time is going well. He is into EVERYTHING. He took 10 steps the other day and has done it a couple times since, but crawling is still his favorite mode of transport.

He has been named the "king of sound effects". He makes all sorts of noises. He has a couple of Cheveron Cars that he loves, and one of them is a police car. So we pushed it around the floor, making a siren noise. And he would take it, and push it around and make the same siren noise. lol... it was so cute! But the impressive part was, when I handed him the farmers truck he stopped making the siren noise and started going "brrrrrrrrm... brrrrrrrrm." Now before you get all excited like we did and think he is a genius, he started making the siren noise with the truck just minutes later... but it was pretty damned cool, none the less.

This is about as long as he kept that hat on. He looked SO cute though! Cyan tried a few more times to keep it on his head, but to no avail. He wouldn't keep it on to save his life.

He sure is keeping me on my toes. In fact, I am going out this moment to grab magnetic locks for some of our cuboard doors because he broke a large pyrex dish yesterday by pulling it down and banging it into another one. Yikes... I will have a toddler soon.

Update...

Sorry I haven't updated this in a long time.

Logan is 10 months now. He is walking, but he hasn't taken any more steps than he did last month. 2 steps here, 3 steps there. No confidence at all.

And I am grateful.

He is 24lbs still. Still my lightest baby at 10 months. Wears 24 month clothes (and 2T for length, but swims in them for width) and pops the crotch on the one pieces. I am drafting him a pattern for pants this weekend, and my friend and I are going to make some. Another long skinny boy to add to the ranks of this house. Man... I hope he is a bit thicker than Alex...

He has 6 teeth. He eats absolutly everything that isn't nailed down, and he has been getting really upset about having different meals than us, so he is now eating 'real people food' 90% of the time... "none of that mush for me please" he says.

He signs. He signs all the time. Gestures with his hands. About half the time I know what he is saying. Well, maybe not quite that much. But he does sign when he is eating. "more", "up", "down", "all done", and "nurse" are all signs he uses very consistantly.

He still wakes at least 3 times a night. He still sleeps on me.

He still yells at me when we stay home too long, and is needy.

He is still the smiliest baby anyone outside of our house ever has met.

He had his first stranger anxiety the other day when my friend Sarah climbed into the backseat of my car with him and he couldn't see me. That was NOT ok. When I pulled him out of his seat and had him in the front seat with me (we were sitting talking in the car while it rained outside) he was ok, and even smiled at her. But he was not ok with not seeing me when she was sitting there.

He asked me to read to him for the first time yesterday too. He brought me a book (pet the animals). But we had already read that one that day, so I picked another one, and he kept petting the pages like the other book. So of course, I melted and read him the pet the animals book again. He loves books. When Cyan and I are reading he will sit next to us on the couch with his own book... and only occasionally jump over me to get to the book we are reading. Very cute!

He adores his big brother. He loves Cyan too, but Alex is something special... to be treasured. Alex wakes up with him in the morning (my morning boys) and will take him from my room and play with him while I drag my tired sorry butt out of bed. If Alex doesn't come get him, Logan will throw himself over me and slide down to the ground, open the bedroom door and crawl over to Alex's room and push the door open, or stand there (if it is latched shut) and pound on it until Alex comes and gets him. Alex gets greated with squeals of delight and honestly, I think he loves it as much as I love the half hour that it gives me to wake up each morning. Alex is such a love.

In other kid news. Cyan is doing beautifully with homeschooling. And I am crafting again. So exciting!

Anyhoo... that is it on our front.

Latest pictures of the kids...

Alex and Logan, Halloween 2007

Cyan, as the cutest good witch this side of Oz.

Sweet big sister...

This one is just better in color... eating the eyeball... Crazy boy.

Logan, the day he turned 9 mos old. And also the day he took his first step!

Logan Took STEPS!

So our baby is offically walking. He took three steps yesterday, and one the day before. He is standing all the time. Someone offered to give us one of those walker pusher things... and I promptly said NO. lol... he is going to walk plenty soon. When Cyan got one of those things (she still wasn't fully walking at a year) she was walking within four days. I don't need my just turned 9 mos old baby walking in four days. I am happy with where he is... no faster please... but man... it is exciting. :D

In other news, Alex has been making comics. Some are really great! He is getting better and drawing while he is doing this too, although he mainly sticks to stick figures... but the expressions that he gives them remind me of Happy Noodle Boy. They make me laugh... none have though, more than this one:

A boy and his world... a story of dinner.

Fun with Homeschooling in Nature

Lately we have been doing lots of nature science during our homeschool lessons. Above is Cyan finding an ant colony under our black oak tree in the back yard.

We have been keeping an Ecojournal in her Science Notebook of our findings in nature in our back yard this season. We even made a map of the yard with all the important things marked... like where all the berries are and of course, the chicken coop. lol... kids. They are a lot of fun with stuff like this.

This branch is our fall leaf experiment. We numbered 10 leaves with a sharpie and have been following the progression of the changing of colors and falling of leaves on a chart every two days for the last week. We had a big windstorm last week that took out half our leaves, (including #6, that is in the picture below)... and Cyan got to notice how many leaves fell off that branch because of the experiment and record it in her EcoJournal. It was pretty neat. :)

Here is the whole tree last week. It doesn't look like this anymore. I will have to get a new picture to add here. It is mostly red and brown now. It has been really amazing to so closely observe this change this year. We picked the perfect time. We have seen it up close and personal... the change from summer to winter.

As a family, we have been working on tree recognition. I think Alex is the most into it of all of us. My kids (both of them) are very interested in identifying all the trees around us right now. We got both books Fun with Nature and More Fun with Nature and they take those with us where we go. Alex has even taken to taking a leaf or a seed with him to school and looking in the computer lab to find out what it is after school and walking home. Like I said, they are REALLY into it. Another GREAT book that we found was "Crinkleroots Guide to Knowing the Trees"... wonderful book that my kids want to hear right now over and over again.

Watching Autumn happen through the eyes of my children has been a beautiful experience... and has been a heck of a lot of fun!

For a whole rundown on our homeschool days including more resources, look at my Live Journal link in the sidebar.

Having a big sister...

Having a big sister is fun... :)

Logan is 8 mos old!!

I know, I know... he has been for a week now... but darn. Things just get away from me right now. Currently, the little man has 4 almost 6 teeth (he gets 2 to 4 at a time... the poor thing), he is eating anything that isn't nailed down, and is starting to stand, and cruising all over everything pulling just about anything down he possibly can. He looks very much like this:

He got hold of a basket of socks this morning... and pulled them all out, one by one, to throw on the floor. At one point he had two socks in his mouth as he continued his search through the basket. It was adorable... and not a little bit messy.

He is having a hard time sleeping right now. Which is genuinely wearing on my nerves. But he is so lovable that it is hard to even be mad at him at 4 in the morning on the 7 time he has woken up. Although not impossible. lol... He is a constant joy. Our lovable boy. The most social of our small clan, he will smile at anyone, and loves to be out of the house much more than being at home.

He just grew into 12-18 month clothes (80cm), and at his last check up (last week) he was 22 lbs and 27inches. Tall and sturdy boy. He got his first shot at that appointment to... and due to some serious mommy magic (ala: me) he didn't even cry... what a trooper!

He recently discovered that he can make the cat make noise.

The cat loves this new discovery.

Logan spent a long while next to the couch while Taio was sleeping on it, touching, poking, pulling on ears, etc, chanting "che-che-che-che!". Every time Taio would put his ears back, or meow, I would take Logan's hand, put it down on the couch again and say "Kitty says 'NO'."

Of course, Logan thought this was a great game, so he kept picking up his hand and putting it back on the cat... eventually Taio had had enough of this play (after Logan grabbed his foot, Taio hates having his feet messed with), and my completely sweet, docile cat lifted his paw and held it threateningly in the air above the baby. The baby just looked at the paw and kept on poking him. To which I stepped in and started my mantra again of "Kitty says 'no'."...

So there we are... Logan is squealing, and patting and poking the poor cat, I am grabbing his hand each time I see that Taio has almost had too much and is about to swat the little monster, and Taio, who is being as patient as a cat could possibly ever be, holding his paw suspended over Logan's head, hoping that the kid gets the hint. Eventually, Taio swatted Logan on top of his head with a "thwap!"... who sat down hard on the ground, and looked at the cat... completely undaunted, and stood up to start the fun game again.

And the sweet, gentle, loving cat, got up and left the room.

My sweet boy. How I adore thee...

Our First Eggs!!

I found it (Cyan) in the back of the chicken coop!

Here is Rose... we think she laid the first egg...

We know it wasn't this one (Violet) becuase she lays blue eggs... we still haven't gotten one of those.

Homeschool days

Wow have we been busy. Cyan and I are working hard on our homeschooling... Logan is working hard on walking... Alex just earned all of his swim signoffs for BoyScouts in one day and is going for his badge next month... the week after he offically moves into the BoyScouts from the CubScouts.

I guess you could say we are all doing well. :) Tired but good.

We have some updates to do, so stay tuned.

To my guiding star

Thank you for putting this boy in my life.

I have loved watching him grow.

There has been so much in his life.

Some good and some not so much.

But we are sticking it through where many others would have made another choice.

I adore him.I laugh with him.

I am learning to understand him and why he was put here with me.

I only hope I can do the gift justice that he has given me.

For he is truly a gift, from my guiding star.

This songs for you, Alex.

The week you start 6th grade.

Boys... Oh Boy...

Logan was up at 2am, at 4:30am, and then for good at 6:20am.

And of course, I am more tired this morning than I was yesterday, and Logan is yelling at the top of his tiny voice "MAMA! MAMAMAMAMAMA! MAMA!"

You all know Anne Of Green Gables right? Well in Anne of Avonlea she and Marilla adopt twins... Davey in that book IS my son. Asking questions like "How hot is it in hell? I wanna know." and "If we could make trees grow gum drops, would that be cool?" and "If Star Trek was real, could I have a holo-deck?" and "When do I get a cell phone? Becuase EVERYONE in my class has one. I don't want to be weird, I don't want to be the kid that is left out... I wanna cell phone mama. Why can't I have one?"

Yep... ALL of these were yesterday after 6pm. *pulling hair out*

Oh and yesterday morning.... good lord. So I am in the shower... and Alex comes in and asks me what he has to do for school. I say

"Pack a lunch, and get your socks paired."

"What do I put in my lunch?"

"Why don't you grab one of each of the sandwiches out of the freezer (I froze some "Uncrustable" style sandwiches for their lunches last week)and see if the meat ones are better when they are really cold." We had had an issue with our lunches getting warm and the ham and cheese sandwiches were really nasty all warm. So this isn't a new thing, we had been experimenting with this for a week.

"What?"

"Why don't you grab one of each sandwich. One PB&J and one Ham and Cheese one. And take both... then you have the PB&J if the Ham and Cheese still doesn't work out."

"What do you want me to do with it?"

Pause... really, he can't be asking me this."Wear it on your head like a Taira."

"WHAT?!?"

"The sandwiches Alex... you eat them."

"Ok"

So I get out of the shower, and Alex says "They wern't good."

"What? When did you have a cold one?"

"Just now." Holding up a frozen solid Ham and Cheese sandwich.

"Like you just got them out of the freezer and tried to eat one?"

"Well yeah! You told me too!"

"Oh good god."

A few mintues previous, Don was sitting in the living room getting Logan dressed (who came in the shower with me and so at this same time I am getting dressed in the bedroom) and Alex makes this horrible face while he is eating. Don says "What's up?" and Alex says "Cold bread... Yuck!"... Don thought he let his toast that went with his breakfast eggs get cold, and thought weird, but I guess some people don't like cold toast... whatever. On no... little did he know my son was trying to eat a completely frozen ham sandwich!

Boys... Oh goodness.

Cyan's horseback riding lessons

She loves this so much! She would go every day if she could. She gets to do the entire thing... from cleaning to brushing, to giving treats... this time we had to cut it a bit short so Don could get to work, but she still is improving SO much every time she goes. This time she could get AJ (her horse) to go all the way around the arena and she played "horsey baseball" which meant she walked AJ around the cones in a dimond and had her do tight circles around each cone. She did just great!

Here is a blow by blow picture slideshow of her hour and a half in horsey heaven.
http://picasaweb.google.com/bluerosemama/2007_9_01/photo#s5105312804084398290

Logan meets canning peaches

View Album

Get your own

I love canning season!!

Butterfly unit, stage two

Cyan is very excited! All of her caterpillars are now chryslis and hanging in the butterfly habitat on the kitchen table. The last one changed yesterday. I am hoping that one that fell off into the silk they spun to get to the top is ok. *crossing fingers* (Can you see it?)

Arn't they beautiful with all their gold spots? Cyan thinks that is the best. We are recording all of this in her Butterfly Book, although I have taken to drawing the pictures becuase she wants to be exact. I am sure she will draw some of the butterflies themselves. My little artist.

Logan, 7 mos old tomorrow.

Here is my sweet baby... moving very quickly from being a baby. He is pulling himself up on EVERYTHING. He just discovered the wealth of stuff to put in his mouth on the coffee table and figured out that he can push Cyan's stool around the kitchen and "walk" behind it. *sigh* It is making mommy's (and daddy's) life very full suddenly, as he becomes faster and more mobile. He still is the smiliest baby ever... will even smile at complete strangers without hesitation. He loves to laugh, and loves to play. And as long as people are paying attention to him he is very content. His sleeping habits are getting better, which is making me feel more real and in the world. He is just all around a real joy to have. :)

Learning new things... he has been "kissing" me for about a month, but this is one of the first times he has "kissed" (read: slimed) daddy. Isn't daddy lucky?

Usually it is grabbing and pulling to you that is bothersome about the kissing... he really has a nack for getting handfuls of hair in the attempt to love on you. Ouch!

Sweet boy!

Life Cycles Unit = Painted Lady Butterflies

We started our life cycles unit yesterday with the arrival of our Painted Lady Butterflies. Cyan and I made an observation booklet this morning and she started talking about what she sees, and how they are changing. She also drew a picture of her observations in the book. Which right now are strings of little mounds of black on stuff that looks like mushed oatmeal. lol... which is very much what these little guys look like sitting in their jar on their food supplement. She is really excited! We got a book from the library on our Painted Ladies and are going to read it tomorrow. We also have worksheets on the life cycles of reptiles (Turtles) and mammals (Bunnies) which we will talk about as the unit goes on.

This will overlap the Early American Studies unit that we have been in for a while, studying pioneer days, horses, and foraging for food. But it is getting her more in classroom mode for a few good talks about writing and how important it is. In this picture, she wrote all the words on the booklet. She didn't spell them herself, but she did the writing. Very artistic handwriting she has already. I was really impressed that she did this at newly 6 years old. Her handwriting is better than her dads. lol!

More Garden Friends

This is the backside of our bean teepee. We planted a nastirituim seed at the base of each supporting pole and they have taken on a life of their own, out spaning and sometimes out growing their bean neighbors as they fight and reach for the sky.

Cyan found another little friend today... I remember these from when I was just a weebee. This is a tiny baby catapiller. Living in our overabundance of beautiful orange flowering nastirtium vines.

Summer Friend

While harvesting food you can find all sorts of friends. We have learned that these little bugs like the salad bed. Snails (really pretty honest to goodness yellow snails) love blackberry bushes, lady bugs like the cone flowers, and bees (not yellow jackets, real little honey bees) love blueberry bushes. It is fun to figure out all of the places these little guys like to live.

Newest pictures of the kids

With homeschooling fun, and Logan crawling, the harvest of veggies and the foraging of berries, and with the regular summer activity level we are everywhere... and often Logan is crawling around covered in berries (which he loves) or the remains of chewed up green beans and we are just enjoying the summer. :)

Video of the crawl and sprawl...

http://picasaweb.google.com/bluerosemama/2007_7_29/photo#s5092824587909934178

Cyan's quilt

For the first week of our homeschooling experiment, Cyan wanted to make a quilt.

She picked her fabrics and I cut out the 4 inch squares. We laid them out 5X5 on the floor and we talked about patterns, and what pattern she would want her quilt. We picked that the chickens moved 3 spaces every row and then kept with the pattern.

Here Cyan is cutting the threads off of the rows we sewed together. They weren't perfect, but this is her first quilt afterall. :)

Here it is all done! When we had finished the rows, we ironed them and put the rows together. Then I backed it with the fabric she chose, and blocked it with bais tape.

She really likes it! (And so do her dolls!)