Week Three of School and Etc.

Blogs are so much nicer with pictures. This was taken when we went to visit Dusti and her family. It was a fantastic visit! Look at all of those smiling faces. All of the children are twelve and under.. and there are fourteen in the picture. We were on the way back from Pipestem and stopping to see them was a really nice break. (We have sunburned faces!)

So, we're starting week three tomorrow. My "co-op Mom" keeps threatening (teasingly!) to quit TOG. I warned her that I'd show up at her house every week anyway. ;) The children are learning a lot and we're learning that 1) We can't do everything and 2) We shouldn't try! Tapestry has been a lot of fun so far, but it's a lot to keep three levels going. I've discovered I need to carve out individual K-time to spend with Joseph.

I also need for fairies to come in at night to mop my floor! (Fairies, could you clean out the van too?). I'm redoing the chore chart, but that's not at the top of my priority list right now. We are really good at our morning/afternoon/evening tidy routines.. just not so great at remembering the cobweb that keeps forming on the ceiling fan. Can I turn that into science somehow? The girls are also dangerously close to losing 99% of the stuff in their room. This is the last week to get it cleaned or else I introduce them to how monks like to live.

In other news.. that is my menu plan at the top of this page. I used to do it before, but it used to look soooo much better. Simple is the idea now. I like the More with Less cookbook published by the Mennonites in the 70s. My goal is to work in more curries and things to be served with rice. We also need to keep meals quick because right now nobody wants to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I'm still loving my Zojurishi (sp?) rice maker. Large families, this thing is fantastic. You can keep rice good in it for days. Bethany loves to make rice/bean burgers and ALL of the children (plus Jim) like to eat them like hamburgers. It makes perfect brown rice. To the menu we add veggies and such as we have them, but I generally don't plan in which veggie with which meal. For instance, the bowties will probably have salads, the nacho night is likely to have sliced cucumbers.

Oh.. speaking of nachos. It's not the healthiest meal, but definitely not the worst. During our camping vacation I found that nachos are pretty quick and easy. I used a vegetarian chili, black beans (squished a bit), kidney beans (ditto), taco seasoning, and cheese. We served it over chips with sour cream and salsa. It's not the standard dinner, but it is good, filling, and relatively frugal. Naomi can't eat chips, but she can eat the rest of it.

Okay, okay, I know some of you are saying "There's no way she's eating THAT!" and, you're right. I'm not. :) I am still following the same book that I picked up a while back and still having great results. In two weeks I lost a dress size. I figure by the end of Sept I will be needing to buy new clothes. I'm down to three skirts that fit properly. Once those are outgrown (well, too large) then I'll need others. It's somewhat amusing to me that this is working. I don't know why.. I am doing a lot of work when it comes to exercise (although I love Zumba - the music, dancing, etc is fun to me) but the food portion hasn't been as difficult as I thought. I am starting week one over again. This past week I kept having issues with eating on a regular schedule (due to school, various things happening, etc) and I feel like starting back at week one will help me. I haven't gained and I've still made progress, but this is what I want to do. (The past couple of days I've stayed the same - I'm guessing because my calories dropped too low due to missing meals).

I highly recommend www.sparkpeople.com It has a lot of helps and it is completely free. Btw, I'll try to keep this from turning into a blog about my dieting stuff, it's just something that is a focus a lot of time and comes up. I've also had many people ask me about what I'm doing, so I'm trying to share that while being open about my progress. I know where I'd like to be when I take the the trip for the seminar in October. Also, the trip to Wales in late spring.. and then the trip (I'm spoiled, yes, I know!!) in Sept '09. By that time I will have reached my goal. (Well, before that, but it's the date Jim and I figured would be good for a reward trip). When you put in your weight, goal weight, and date you want to reach it the chart will show a line showing you the actual progress vs. the progress you need to be making. That is motivational.

Teaching Textbooks 7 has been a huge hit here. I might get the girls to write up a review and I'll post it later this week. I know that I like it. It makes my life easier! James really wants to try TT5 and we might start that later this year. We're reviewing some other stuff first. I think with Joseph I will skip the math curriculum altogether and simply do real math.

www.livingmath.net is great for that.

Noah will be doing a free lapbook from www.homeschoolshare.com (or is it www.homeschooleshare.com) on "If You Give a Moose a Muffin". I'm not a really crafty preK mom, but that's a poor excuse to skip fun things with him.

In quilting news.. my projects are on hold and my frame is living at Anna's house currently. I miss sewing, but have most of my focus on schooling.. the children's and mine. For mine, I'm working three things this year - childbirth educator certification, DONA (doula) certification, and I'm actually going to start midwife education as well. I'm very excited about that and excited about this year overall. It looks promising.

ooh.. sports news.. we should find out this week what the children's soccer schedule will be. The oldest five are all playing soccer through the local Y.

Whew. I go from not blogging at all to being a chatterbox!

Studying Egypt, Loving on the Cats

In this picture... the siamese kittens decided that Bethany made good furniture. She was trying to read about Ancient Egypt as they demanded snuggles! Taliesin, my cat, is on the left (he has white paws). Artoo, Joseph's cat, is on the right.. his paws are grey. The cat all the way to the right is Tuna (the orange tabby).

This is Charlotte's scrapbook page for today. We had some great discussions along with kitty snuggles!! I hope to get some co-op pics up soon.

Whew... A new year!

Yes, I know it isn't January, but this is the beginning of our school year!

I plan to update regularly. :) We're so ashamed that we've been slacking.

Soooooo..... check back. I promise to get more up! Today was our first day of school and we had a good time. It's an adjustment to get back into the swing of things, but we're doing it.

Btw, we did return to church. We're going to Calvary Chapel -Blythewood and feel the love of Jesus every time we walk through the doors. Thank you, Lord, for our church family.